NutraSweet to stop making aspartame

NEW YORK (AP) -- NutraSweet says it will no longer make the artificial sweetener aspartame as a result of foreign competition.<br /> <br /> The privately held company said Wednesday it expects to shut down a major portion of a plant that employs about 210 workers, including contractors, by year-end as a result. That will leave it with only about 10 to 20 employees to focus on its two other smaller sweeteners, the company said.<br /> <br /> "Low-cost imports now dominate the aspartame market, making it impossible for us to sustain a profitable business while maintaining our unmatched standard of quality," NutraSweet CEO William DeFer said in a statement.<br /> <br /> Aspartame is more commonly known as the ingredient used in Equal, the blue packets of sweetener often found on tables at restaurants.<br /> <br /> The NutraSweet Company was sold to the private equity firm J.W. Childs by Monsanto in 2000. At the same time, Monsanto sold the retail face of aspartame, Equal, to Merisant.<br /> <br /> NutraSweet spokesman Hud Englehart said the company started facing competition as a supplier of aspartame once its patents on the artificial sweetener expired. He noted the company had been facing pressure for some time.<br /> <br /> NutraSweet said the plant in Augusta, Georgia had supplied customers around the world for more than 30 years. It said it will now focus on making neotame and Twinsweet.

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