Cardboard tube which originally held Saccharin tablets. This is labelled 'Standard Strength' and 'Order Dec. 1st, 1942.' It was donated to the museum in 1994. 

Saccharin is a non-nutritive artificial sweetener that is known for being over 300 times sweeter than sucrose, or refined sugar.  It was first discovered in 1879 by chemist Constantin Fahlberg, working on coal tar derivatives at The Johns Hopkins University. In 1884 Fahlberg applied for patents in several countries, describing methods of producing this substance that he named saccharin. Saccharin derives its name from the word "saccharin", meaning "sugary”. Its use became widespread during WWI with the sugar shortages due to the difficulty of importing sugar from the colonised Caribbean islands and the British Saccharin Company was founded in 1917. 

During WWII, the British government, in collaboration with the British Saccharin Company, produced saccharin to address the sugar shortage and these were commonly sold by chemists. Britain was reliant on importing foods. When World War II started in 1939, the country was annually importing 70 percent of its foodstuffs, including 50 percent of its meat, about 70 percent of its cheese, sugar, cereals, and fats, and almost 80 percent of its fruits. With many of these countries that exported foods being occupied and also with the threat of German U-boats across the Atlantic, rationing was introduced in January 1940 with sugar rationing being introduced in July 1942. Newspapers articles during the war years report that many people were fined for selling cut-rate saccharin. One report form 1941 records that the public were advised to carry their own sugar or saccharin to teashops and catering establishments due to the sugar allowances which were restricted to cooking. 

By 1942 Labour MP Will Thorne was asking Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food about the shortage of Saccharin tablets which were “so valuable to thousands of householders” but was advised that there were no shortages and production at this time was about 25 times pre-war output. In 1942 it was reported that “Utility” soft drinks would be sweetened with 75 tons of Saccharin compared to the 40 -50,000 tons of sugar normally used. The Ministry of Food controlled the maximum wholesale and retail prices of Saccharin tablets and this continued from 1942 to 1949. Sugar rationing lasted until September 1953. Its popularity further increased during the 1960s and 1970s among dieters.