Characterization of impurities in commercial lots of sodium saccharin produced by the Sherwin-Williams process. II. Mutagenicity.

The mutagenic activity of solvent extracts of specific manufacturing lots of saccharin produced by the Sherwin-Williams process was studied in detail. All the individual components identified were found to be non-mutagenic. The mutagenic activity of saccharin lot S-1469 was traced to a moderately polar chromatographic fraction representing impurities present in the saccharin at a level of less than 1.5 ppm, but was not attributable to a single component. In view of the low level of mutagenic activity observed and the low concentration of total impurities in Sherwin-Williams saccharin, the mutagenic material(s) are probably of no significance in animal feeding studies.