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Ingredients › Aspartame (INS 951)

Baby food · 0–36 months

Is aspartame (INS 951) safe for babies?

Aspartame (INS 951) in kids' food and drinks

Aspartame is an artificial sweetener about 200 times sweeter than sugar, printed on Indian labels as “Sweetener (951)”. It is in diet soft drinks, sugar-free sweets and some flavoured drink powders. Pikabee flags it in food for any child under three.

What Pikabee flags, by age

0–6 monthsRED FLAG

Any food other than breast milk or infant formula is flagged at this age, because WHO advises only breast milk for the first 6 months. Aspartame is flagged too.

6–12 monthsRED FLAG

Flagged. The EU permits no sweeteners in food made for babies and young children.

12–36 monthsRED FLAG

Still flagged. WHO Europe's model allows no sweetening agents in food for children up to 36 months.

What it is

Aspartame is made from two amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalanine. Because it contains phenylalanine, labels must say so — that warning matters for people with the rare condition phenylketonuria.

Children usually meet it in diet colas, sugar-free chewing gum and sweets, flavoured drink mixes and “lite” desserts made for adults.

Names it goes by on labels

Why Pikabee flags it

EU food-additive law allows no sweeteners, aspartame included, in food for infants and young children, and WHO Europe's model allows no sweetening agents in food for children 6–36 months.

How often parents find it

1 of 12

different baby food labels parents have scanned with Pikabee had aspartame, as of 4 November 2026.

Questions parents ask

Is aspartame (INS 951) safe for a baby under 6 months?

Any food other than breast milk or infant formula is flagged at this age, because WHO advises only breast milk for the first 6 months. Aspartame is flagged too.

Is aspartame (INS 951) safe for a 6 to 12 month old baby?

Flagged. The EU permits no sweeteners in food made for babies and young children. EU food-additive law allows no sweeteners, aspartame included, in food for infants and young children, and WHO Europe's model allows no sweetening agents in food for children 6–36 months.

Is aspartame (INS 951) safe for a 1 to 3 year old?

Still flagged. WHO Europe's model allows no sweetening agents in food for children up to 36 months. EU food-additive law allows no sweeteners, aspartame included, in food for infants and young children, and WHO Europe's model allows no sweetening agents in food for children 6–36 months.

Can kids have aspartame?

Pikabee flags aspartame in food for a child under three. The EU does not permit any sweetener in food for babies and young children.

What is INS 951?

INS 951 is aspartame, an artificial sweetener. It is often written “Sweetener (951)”.

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Sources

  1. Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 on food additives: Article 16 and Annex II category 13.1 (foods for infants and young children), Annex V (colour warning).
  2. WHO Regional Office for Europe (2022). Nutrient and promotion profile model: supporting appropriate promotion of food products for infants and young children 6–36 months.

Last reviewed 6 November 2026.

Related ingredients

Talk to your pediatrician about anything concerning.