International Numbering System (INS) for Food Additives: 957
Food additives Europe numbers: E957
Functional Category
Flavor enhancer; sweetening agent.
Applications in Pharmaceutical Formulation
Thaumatin is a naturally occurring intense sweetening agent approximately 2000–3000 times as sweet as sucrose. It has a delayed-onset taste profile and long (up to one hour) licorice-like aftertaste. It is used extensively in food applications as a sweetening agent and flavor enhancer, and has potential for use in pharmaceutical applications such as oral suspensions.(1) The typical level used in foods is 0.5–3 ppm, although higher levels are used in certain applications such as chewing gum. Synergistic effects with other intense sweeteners such as acesulfame K and saccharin occur. The extensive disulfide crosslinking within thaumatin maintains the tertiary structure of the polypeptide: cleavage of just one disulfide bridge has been shown to result in the loss of the sweet taste of thaumatin.(2)
Description
Thaumatin occurs as a pale-brown colored, odorless, hygroscopic powder with an intensely sweet taste.
Stability and Storage Conditions
Thaumatin is stable in aqueous solutions at pH 2–8. It is also heatstable at less than pH 5.5 (e.g. during baking, canning, pasteurizing, or UHT processes).
Safety
Thaumatin is accepted for use in food products either as a sweetener or as a flavor modifier in a number of areas including Europe and Australia. It is also used in oral hygiene products such as mouthwashes and toothpastes, and has been proposed for use in oral pharmaceutical formulations. Thaumatin is generally regarded as a relatively nontoxic and nonirritant material when used as an excipient. In Europe, because of its lack of toxicity, an ADI has been set of ‘not specified’. (4,5) LD50 (mouse, oral): >20 g/kg(5) LD50 (rat, oral): >20 g/kg