Sweet'n Low (stylized as Sweet'N Low) is a brand of

artificial sweetener A sugar substitute or artificial sweetener, is a food additive that provides a sweetness like that of sugar while containing significantly less food energy than sugar-based sweeteners, making it a zero-calorie () or low-calorie sweetener. Arti ...

now made primarily from granulated

saccharin Saccharin, also called saccharine, benzosulfimide, or E954, or used in saccharin sodium or saccharin calcium forms, is a non-nutritive artificial sweetener. Saccharin is a sultam that is about 500 times sweeter than sucrose, but has a bitter or ...

(except in Canada, where it contains

cyclamate Cyclamate is an artificial sweetener. It is 30–50 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar), making it the least potent of the commercially used artificial sweeteners. It is often used with other artificial sweeteners, especially saccharin; the ...

instead). When introduced in 1958 in the United States, Sweet'N Low was cyclamate-based, but it was replaced by a saccharin-based formulation in 1969. It is also a brand name applied to a family of sweetener and sweetened products, some containing sweeteners other than saccharin or cyclamate. There have been over 500 billion Sweet'N Low packets produced. Sweet'N Low is manufactured and distributed in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

by Cumberland Packing Corporation, which also produces Sugar In The Raw and

Stevia Stevia () is a sweet sugar substitute that is about 50 to 300 times sweetness, sweeter than sugar. It is extracted from the leaves of ''Stevia rebaudiana'', a plant native to areas of Paraguay and Brazil. The active compounds in stevia are ...

In The Raw, and in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

by Dietary Foods Ltd. Sweet'N Low has been licensed to Bernard Food Industries for a line of low-calorie baking mixes. Its patent is .

History

Saccharin Saccharin, also called saccharine, benzosulfimide, or E954, or used in saccharin sodium or saccharin calcium forms, is a non-nutritive artificial sweetener. Saccharin is a sultam that is about 500 times sweeter than sucrose, but has a bitter or ...

was discovered in 1878 by Constantin Fahlberg, a chemist working on coal tar derivatives at the

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

. Although saccharin was commercialized not long after its discovery, it was not until decades later that its use became widespread. Sweet'N Low was first introduced in 1957 by

Benjamin Eisenstadt Benjamin Eisenstadt (December 7, 1906 – April 8, 1996) was the designer of the modern sugar packet and developer of Sweet'N Low. He was the founder of the Cumberland Packing Corporation and a notable philanthropist. Personal life Benjamin Ei ...

, formerly proprietor of a

Brooklyn Navy Yard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York (state), New York, U.S. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a se ...

cafeteria, and his son, Marvin Eisenstadt. The elder Eisenstadt had earlier invented the

sugar packet A sugar packet is a delivery method for one serving of sugar or other sweetener. Sugar packets are commonly supplied in restaurants, coffeehouses, and tea houses, where they are preferred to sugar bowls or sugar dispensers for reasons of neatnes ...

, but did not 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 business is still based on the site of Ben's original diner, but no longer produces or packages the product there. Since 1957, the company operated a Sweet'N Low manufacturing and packing plant in Brooklyn, but the company announced in 2016 that it would close that operation, and shift those functions elsewhere in the United States. At the end, the plant employed 300 unionized manufacturing staff and still used antique equipment.

Branding and advertising

The name "Sweet'N Low" derives from an 1863 song by Joseph Barnby, which took both its title and lyrics from an

Alfred Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of ...

poem, entitled ''The Princess: Sweet and Low''. The product's name and

musical staff In Western musical notation, the staff"staff" in the Collins English Di ...

logo have US trademark registration number 3,317,421. Around 2005, Cumberland Packing Corporation made a sponsorship deal with Metro Goldwyn Mayer related to the 2006 film ''

The Pink Panther ''The Pink Panther'' is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Clouseau, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the fil ...

''. As a result, the Pink Panther animated character made an appearance on the sweetener's pink packaging and television commercials. By 2010, the cartoon panther had been replaced by a motif reminiscent of the 1960s and 1970s (which their newly-hired advertising agency,

Mother A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...

, believed had returned to fashion in the 2010s), in an effort to broaden the brand's appeal to customers outside of its traditional demographic of women aged 45 and older. The agency felt that previous advertising, using

Regis Philbin Regis Francis Xavier Philbin ( ; August 25, 1931 – July 25, 2020)Archived aGhostarchiveand thWayback Machine was an American television presenter, comedian, actor, and singer. Once called "the hardest-working man in show business", he held th ...

and the Pink Panther, borrowed the brand equity of other properties instead of claiming cultural relevance of its own.

References

External links

{{Commonscat
Official US site

Official UK site
Sugar substitutes Products introduced in 1957 Brand name diet products