J&J sells popular Splenda sugar substitute to Heartland Food

New York

JOHNSON & JOHNSON (J&J) on Tuesday said it was selling its widely used Splenda sugar substitute to privately held Heartland Food Products Group in order to focus on other consumer brands.

J&J introduced Splenda in 1999, whose slogan "Made from sugar so it tastes like sugar", helped it to grow into a brand with eventual annual sales of about US$300 million and overtake sweeteners containing saccharin and aspartame.