Sweet'n Low (stylized as Sweet'N Low) is a brand of

artificial sweetener A sugar substitute is a food additive that provides a sweetness like that of sugar while containing significantly less food energy than sugar-based sweeteners, making it a zero-calorie () or low-calorie sweetener. Artificial sweeteners may b ...

made primarily from granulated

saccharin Saccharin (''aka'' saccharine, Sodium sacchari) is an artificial sweetener with effectively no nutritional value. It is about 550 times as sweet as sucrose but has a bitter or metallic aftertaste, especially at high concentrations. Saccharin is ...

. It also contains dextrose and

cream of tartar Potassium bitartrate, also known as potassium hydrogen tartrate, with formula K C4 H5 O6, is a byproduct of winemaking. In cooking, it is known as cream of tartar. It is processed from the potassium acid salt of tartaric acid (a carboxylic ac ...

, and is distributed primarily in packets. There have been over 500 billion Sweet'N Low packets produced. Sweet'n Low is manufactured and distributed in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Cumberland Packing Corporation Cumberland Packing Corporation is a privately owned company located at 2 Cumberland Street, in Brooklyn, New York. It was founded in 1945 by Benjamin Eisenstadt and is best known as the manufacturer, distributor, and marketer of Sweet'n Low, th ...

, which also produces Sugar in the Raw and Stevia in the Raw, and in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

by Dietary Foods Ltd. Its patent is . The "SWEET'N LOW" wording and

musical staff In Western musical notation, the staff (US and UK)"staff" in the Collin ...

logo have US trademark registration number 3,317,421. In

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, Sweet'n Low is made from

sodium cyclamate Cyclamate is an artificial sweetener. It is 30–50 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar), making it the least potent of the commercially used artificial sweeteners. It is often used with other artificial sweeteners, especially saccharin; ...

rather than

. Although saccharin was not allowed as a food additive in Canada beginning in 1977 when studies surfaced showing

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is any of several types of cancer arising from the tissues of the urinary bladder. Symptoms include blood in the urine, pain with urination, and low back pain. It is caused when epithelial cells that line the bladder become ma ...

in laboratory rats that had been given the additive, in 2014, Canada lifted this ban when those studies were proven to be flawed. Sweet'n Low has been licensed to

Bernard Food Industries Bernard Food Industries is an American food products corporation. It is part of a family business started in 1947. Bernard Food Industries is headquartered in Evanston, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. The company was founded by Jules Bernard and is c ...

for a line of low-calorie baking mixes.

History

Saccharin Saccharin (''aka'' saccharine, Sodium sacchari) is an artificial sweetener with effectively no nutritional value. It is about 550 times as sweet as sucrose but has a bitter or metallic aftertaste, especially at high concentrations. Saccharin is ...

was discovered in 1878 by

Constantin Fahlberg Constantin Fahlberg (22 December 1850 in Tambov – 15 August 1910 in Nassau, aged 59) was a Russian chemist who discovered the sweet taste of anhydroorthosulphaminebenzoic acid in 1877–78 when analysing the chemical compounds in coal tar a ...

, a chemist working on coal tar derivatives at the

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

. Although saccharin was commercialized not long after its discovery, it was not until decades later that its use became widespread. Sweet'n Low was first introduced in 1957 by

Benjamin Eisenstadt Benjamin Eisenstadt (December 7, 1906 – April 8, 1996) was the designer of the modern sugar packet and developer of Sweet'N Low. He was the founder of the Cumberland Packing Corporation and a notable philanthropist. Personal life Benjamin Ei ...

, formerly proprietor of a

Brooklyn Navy Yard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular bend ...

cafeteria, and his son, Marvin Eisenstadt. The elder Eisenstadt had earlier invented the

sugar packet A sugar packet is a delivery method for one serving of sugar or other sweetener. Sugar packets are commonly supplied in restaurants, coffeehouses, and tea houses, where they are preferred to sugar bowls or sugar dispensers for reasons of neatness, ...

, but neglected to patent it, and artificial sweetener packets were an outgrowth of that business. The two were the first to market and distribute the sugar substitute in powdered form. Their distribution company, Cumberland Packing Corporation, still controls the product. The business is still based on the site of Ben's original diner.

Advertising

In 2005, Cumberland Packing Corporation made a sponsorship deal with

Metro Goldwyn Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

, which at the time was about to be ready for the 2006 spy comedy film remake ''

The Pink Panther ''The Pink Panther'' is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the classic film '' The Pi ...

''. As a result, the

Pink Panther ''The Pink Panther'' is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the classic film ''The Pin ...

animated character made an appearance in two promotional commercials, one for the 2006 film and the other for the remake's sequel, ''

The Pink Panther 2 ''The Pink Panther 2'' is a 2009 American comedy-mystery film directed by Harald Zwart. It is the eleventh installment in '' The Pink Panther'' film series and the sequel to the 2006 film '' The Pink Panther'', a reboot of the popular comedy seri ...

'', and on the sweetener's iconic pink packets and its box packaging.

Brand name derivation

The name "Sweet'n Low" derives from an 1863 song by Sir

Joseph Barnby Sir Joseph Barnby (12 August 183828 January 1896) was an English composer and conductor. Life Barnby was born at York, as a son of Thomas Barnby, who was an organist. Joseph was a chorister at York Minster from the age of seven, was educated ...

, which took both its title and lyrics from an

Alfred Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

poem, entitled ''The Princess: Sweet and Low''.

References

External links

{{Commonscat
Official US site

Official UK site
Sugar substitutes Products introduced in 1957 Brand name diet products