ACESULFAME K (ACE-K, E950)

Product Overview

High-Intensity Sweetener | E950 | ~200× Sweetness | Zero-Calorie · Heat-Stable | Food Grade

Acesulfame Potassium — Ace-K, E950 — is a food-grade, high-intensity sweetener supplied as a white crystalline powder at 99–101% assay. It is approximately 200 times sweeter than sucrose, contributes zero calories, and is not metabolised by the body, passing through unchanged.

Two properties make Ace-K a manufacturing favourite. First, it is exceptionally heat- and pH-stable, so it holds its sweetness through baking, pasteurisation, and long shelf storage where some other sweeteners degrade. Second, it works synergistically in blends: combined with sucralose, aspartame, or sugar alcohols, the sweeteners enhance each other and the blend tastes cleaner and more sugar-like than any component alone, while also allowing Ace-K's slight characteristic aftertaste to be masked. This makes it a standard building block in modern sugar-reduction and sugar-free formulation.

Key Properties

• Product Name: Acesulfame Potassium (Ace-K)
• E Number: E950
• Sweetness: ~200× sucrose | Zero-calorie
• Assay: 99–101%
• Appearance: White crystalline powder
• pH (1 in 100): 5.5–7.5
• Shelf Life: 2 years | Storage: Cool, dry

How Food & Beverage Manufacturers Use This Ingredient

Acesulfame K is used by manufacturers as a zero-calorie, heat-stable high-intensity sweetener. Typical applications include:

• Sugar-Free & Low-Calorie Beverage Manufacturing: A core sweetener in diet soft drinks, flavoured waters, energy drinks, and drink powders — its heat and shelf stability hold sweetness through processing and long storage. Almost always blended with sucralose or aspartame for a cleaner, more sugar-like taste.
• Sugar-Free Confectionery Manufacturing: Provides intense sweetness in sugar-free gum, mints, and hard candy, frequently paired with sugar alcohols that supply the bulk.
• Tabletop Sweetener Manufacturing: Used in sachet and tablet tabletop sweeteners, often blended for balanced sweetness.
• Baked Goods & Dairy Manufacturing: Its heat stability suits sugar-reduced baked goods, and it is used in sugar-free yoghurts, desserts, and dairy products.
• Pharmaceutical & Supplement Manufacturing: Sweetens and masks bitterness in chewables, syrups, and effervescent products.

Key Features

• ~200× Sweeter Than Sugar, Zero-Calorie: Intense sweetness at tiny inclusion rates; contributes no calories and no carbohydrates
• Exceptional Heat & pH Stability: Holds sweetness through baking, pasteurisation, and long shelf life
• Synergistic in Blends: Enhances and is enhanced by sucralose, aspartame, and sugar alcohols for a cleaner, sugar-like taste
• Long Shelf Life: Highly stable in storage — 2-year shelf life
• Non-Cariogenic: Not fermented by oral bacteria

Technical Specifications

• Product: Acesulfame Potassium (E950)
• Assay: 99–101%
• Appearance: White crystalline powder
• Loss on Drying (105°C, 3h): <1%
• pH (1 in 100 solution): 5.5–7.5
• Impurity A: <0.125%
• Impurity B: <20 ppm
• Arsenic: <1 ppm
• Lead: <1 ppm
• Shelf Life: 2 years