5 May, 2008 – Ajinomoto said it has launched legal action against Asda after the UK supermarket chain described aspartame as a “nasty” on a wide range of own-label products.
The Japanese food giant - a leading supplier of aspartame – accused Asda of “malicious falsehood” and said it intends to take legal steps to defend the reputation of the ingredient which is used as a sweetener in a host of products including soft drinks, yoghurts and chewing gum.
The legal papers have been lodged at the UK’s High Court in London after Asda rolled out its campaign to get rid of “hidden nasties” in its “Good for You” ranges of products.
The products, which contain a list of blacklisted ingredients, names aspartame as well as artificial colours and hydrogenated fats as “nasties”.
Ajinomoto said it had begun legal action after negotiations with Asda over the issue broke down.
An Ajinomoto statement said: “Ajinomoto has tried to negotiate an agreement with Asda by which the retailer would stop its denigration of aspartame, but has not succeeded. Ajinomoto has taken this legal step to defend the reputation not only of the ingredient, but also of the many products that are sweetened with aspartame.
The statement goes onto to describe aspartame as a “simple food ingredient made from amino acids, the building blocks of protein that occur widely in our diet, including in eggs, meat, fish, cheese and milk”, adding “it is therefore absurd that Asda should refer to aspartame as a ‘nasty’.”
FLEXNEWS was unable to contact Asda for a comment but UK sources report the supermarket is prepared to defend its claim and is expected to file legal papers later this month.
Aspartame, discovered in the 1960s, has been used as a food additive since 1985. It has attracted controversy as its critics claim it can be harmful once ingested. However, it has received the approval from the UK’s Food Standards Agency, the Food and Drug Administration in the United States and the WHO.