Sweet'n Low

Sweet'n Low (trademarked as Sweet'N Low) is a brand of artificial sweetener from granulated Saccharin, dextrose and cream of tartar. It was invented and first introduced in 1957 by Benjamin Eisenstadt and his son, Marvin Eisenstadt. The elder Eisenstadt had earlier invented the sugar packet, 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 name "Sweet'n Low" itself derives from an 1863 song by Joseph Barnby, which took both its title and lyrics from an Alfred Lord Tennyson poem, entitled The Princess: Sweet and Low. From the 1950s to the 1980s, Sweet'n Low held a virtual monopoly of the artificial sweetener market. Currently, according to Rich Cohen's book Sweet and Low, it holds the #3 position in said market, behind Equal sweetener and Splenda.

Sweet'n Low is U.S. patent 3,625,711. Their trademark of words "Sweet'n Low" and musical staff is U.S. Trademark registration No. 1,000,000. In Canada, where saccharin is currently banned except for diabetic use only, the artificial sweetener used in Sweet'n Low is cyclamate. Ironically, cyclamate is banned in the United States. Both bans extend from the same set of experimental results from the 1960s in which a blend of saccharin and cyclamate was linked to bladder cancer in animal test subjects. The results were inconclusive and the US and Canada ended up each banning one of the two products. The Pink Panther cartoon character has been the mascot for the brand since 2001. He appears on the packaging and marketing, and has appeared on the product's television commercials. Sweet'n Low is manufactured and distributed in the United States by Sugar Foods Corporation and in the United Kingdom by Dietary Foods Ltd.

Sweet'n Low has been licensed to Bernard Food Industries for a line of low-calorie baking mixes.

An April 2006 memoir Sweet and Low : A Family Story by Rich Cohen details the trials and tribulations of inventor Ben Eisenstadt and his family before and after the development of Sweet'n Low.

A knock-off product exists under the name Sweetmate. It is available in a pink packet with blue logo lettering intended to be visually reminiscent of Sweet'n Low. The Sweetmate box even proclaims "same sweetener as Sweet'n Low at a sweeter price."

External links

• Official U.S. site
• Official U.K. site