Analytical high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) conditions were standardized along with the
isolation procedure for separation of aspartame and neotame in flavoured milk (pasteurized and in-bottle
sterilized flavoured milk). The recovery of the method was approximately 98% for both aspartame and
neotame. The proposed HPLC method can be successfully used for the routine determination of aspartame
and neotame in flavoured milk. Pasteurization (90 C/20 min) resulted in approximately 40% loss
of aspartame and only 8% of neotame was degraded. On storage (4–7 C/7 days) aspartame and neotame
content decreased significantly (P < 0.05) from 59.70% to 44.61% and 91.78% to 87.18%, respectively.
Sterilization (121 C/15 min) resulted in complete degradation of aspartame; however, 50.50% of neotame
remained intact. During storage (30 C/60 days) neotame content decreased significantly
(P < 0.05) from 50.36% to 8.67%. Results indicated that neotame exhibited better stability than aspartame
in both pasteurized and in-bottle sterilized flavoured milk.