E-numbers / Sweeteners / E960
also: Steviol glycosides · Stevioside · Rebaudioside A · Rebaudioside M
The sweet part of the stevia leaf, 200 to 300 times sweeter than sugar. In 2024 regulators refused to let it into more foods, because toddlers would take in too much.
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Water, Cranberry Juice from Concentrate (24%), Milled Cranberry Purée (4%), Sugar, Vitamin C, Flavourings, Sweetener (Steviol Glycosides from Stevia)
Young children who have a lot of it can go over the daily limit.
UK supermarket foods that declare E960: 376 of the 43,325 we checked (0.9%)
Counted by its code or its name in the ingredient list.
Counted by NutraSafe from UK supermarket ingredient lists, September 2026. How we counted
Why it’s worth knowing. Young children who have a lot of it can go over the daily limit. That was part of why its approved uses were not widened in 2024.
Steviol glycosides are the sweet compounds taken from the leaves of the stevia plant, which comes from South America. The main ones are stevioside and rebaudioside A. They are 200 to 300 times sweeter than sugar. Labels may show E960, or newer codes that say how it was made: E960a from the leaves, E960b by fermentation, and E960c using enzymes.
It triggers the sweet taste receptors on the tongue without adding calories.
Low-sugar and zero-sugar soft drinks and flavoured waters, yoghurts, flavoured dairy drinks, breakfast cereals, sweets, chewing gum, sweetener sachets and tablets, and some cakes and desserts. UK labels call it steviol glycosides, stevia, stevia leaf extract, E960 or E960a.
European reviewers set a daily limit of 4mg per kg of body weight, measured as steviol, in 2010, and have kept it since. In 2024 an industry application asked for it to be raised to 6 or 16mg per kg to allow wider use. Reviewers refused, finding no good case for an increase. Their estimates showed that with the proposed extra uses, toddlers who eat the most could reach 6.9mg per kg a day, well over the limit.
Reviewers declined to raise the daily limit from 4mg per kg of body weight, and noted the proposed wider use would push the heaviest-eating toddlers over it, to about 6.9mg per kg a day.
Lab and animal studies have raised the question of whether high concentrations change gut bacteria. At normal food amounts, evidence in people is limited and the picture is not settled.
Lab and animal studies found high concentrations of steviol glycosides can change gut bacteria, but whether this happens at normal intakes in people has not been established.
Daily limit. 4mg per kg of body weight a day, measured as steviol.
People allergic to plants in the daisy family, which includes ragweed and chrysanthemums, may react to stevia, which is related. People on medicine for high blood pressure or diabetes should know that high supplement doses of stevioside had effects on blood pressure and blood sugar in trials. Look for steviol glycosides, stevia, stevia leaf extract, E960 or E960a.
Stevia is sold as a natural, plant-based sugar swap, and is common in products for people watching their weight or blood sugar. The most important recent finding is the 2024 one: wider use could push toddlers over the limit, which is a real signal, not a technicality. The gut bacteria question comes mostly from lab and animal work. Young children at high intake are where regulators have drawn the line.
No. Steviol glycosides are approved in the UK. The single E960 code has been split into E960a, E960b and E960c depending on how it is made. E960d is not currently authorised in Great Britain.
In a 2024 opinion, European reviewers refused an industry request to raise the daily limit and allow it in more foods, because their estimates showed toddlers at high intake would go over the limit under the proposed wider uses. The existing uses did not change.
Mostly diet and zero-sugar soft drinks, flavoured waters, low-sugar yoghurts, breakfast cereals, chewing gum, sweets and sweetener products. Labels call it steviol glycosides, stevia, stevia leaf extract, E960 or E960a.
Yes. The leaf extract (E960a) comes from a plant, and the fermentation-made version (E960b) is made by microbes, with nothing from animals.
Last reviewed: 9 November 2026
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