Traces of aspartame in river sediments

Abstract

Artificial sweeteners are used as sugar substitutes in food and beverages which are regulated by national guidelines on food additives (Regulation No. 53/2018)1. After decades of application, their widespread occurrence in environment has been confirmed2. Furthermore, artificial sweeteners are recognized as emerging pollutants due to their ecotoxicity and limited knowledge on environmental fate. Some sweeteners, as aspartame, possess a high sorption affinity and partition to sediment in the water-sediment system. In this paper, the presence of aspartame was investigated in sediments of four rivers in Serbia – the Tisza, the Morava, the Sava and the Danube. Analysis of sediment samples was performed by using an ultrasonic extraction as preparation method. The obtained extracts were analyzed by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). Aspartame was found in all investigated river sediments in the concentration range from 117 to 568 ng g–1. Data on the contamination levels of sediments in Serbia indicate potentially harmful effects of aspartame on benthic organisms.