Acceptable daily intake vs actual intake: the aspartame example

This article discusses the acceptable daily intake (ADI) and the postmarketing surveillance of consumption levels for a food additive, using the widely used food additive aspartame (APM, L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester) as an example. The safety implications of the ADI and consumption levels are also discussed. Aspartame has been assigned an ADI of 40 mg/kg/day by the World Health Organization and regulatory authorities in Europe and Canada, and of 50 mg/kg/day by the US Food and Drug Administration. A number of different methods have been used to measure consumption levels of food additives. Consumption estimations for aspartame from one such method, the food intake survey, have been done in the United States, Canada, Germany, and Finland. APM consumption in all age groups and selected subpopulations, even at the 90th percentile, is approximately 2-10 mg/kg/day and is thus well below the ADI.