Cumberland Packing Corp

The manufacturers of the artificial sweetener "Sweet 'N Low" pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges that they had fraudulently avoided the limits on campaign contributions in an effort to keep the sugar substitute Saccharin on the market. Federal prosecutors charged that over $200,000 was drained from the company using a false invoice scheme and funneled to members of Congress and party campaign committees.

The manufacturers of the artificial sweetener "Sweet 'N Low" pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges that they had fraudulently avoided the limits on campaign contributions in an effort to keep the sugar substitute Saccharin on the market. Federal prosecutors charged that over $200,000 was drained from the company using a false invoice scheme and funneled to members of Congress and party campaign committees.

Want to eat lighter this holiday season? A toll-free number will be staffed by nutritionists throughout December to offer tips on making favorite recipes healthier. Sponsored by the Cumberland Packing Corp., a maker of leading sugar, butter and salt substitutes, the hot line will suggest ways of reducing calories and increasing fiber in favorite holiday foods without sacrificing taste.

Those little pink Sweet'N Low packets are undergoing a subtle design change. Chalk up a victory for sharp-eyed middle school students who make up the "metric patrol." "Adults are always telling us what to do," said Noelle Ruggiero, 13. "Now we're telling them." Noelle and her earth science classmates at Eastchester Middle School scan products for mistakes in metric labeling. They've written to companies whose products--bubble bath, vitamins, even a Harley-Davidson engine--were mislabeled.

IF English poet William Blake famously saw "the world in a grain of sand," perhaps American journalist Rich Cohen sees America in a granule of sugar, or a chemical substitute. Cohen has every reason to embrace this perspective, since his family's history is more intrinsically bound up with these magical substances that tantalize human taste buds than any other in the country.