A taste panel study of the saccharin “off‐taste”*

Standard taste panel techniques have been used to study the incidence of the off‐taste of saccharin salt solutions, freshly prepared without heating. Evidence is presented to show that the off‐taste of saccharin is intrinsic in the saccharin molecule as tasted by individuals who are sensitive to it. Decomposition products or trace impurities are not essential to the off‐taste response. Approximately 25 per cent of the population can be expected to detect the off‐taste in saccharin concentrations up to 0.026 per cent, equivalent to about 10 per cent sucrose. It has been shown that the off‐taste response was substantially the same for saccharin sodium, saccharin calcium, and for saccharin sodium prepared by new synthetic methods intended to eliminate trace impurities.