Sugar and sweetener company Tate and Lyle has traced the source of sucralose sold in Wal-Mart under a rival brand name to its own manufacturing plant in Alabama, according to The Financial Times.


It is now investigating which of its customers had supplied Wal-Mart with the sweetener and said it would have “no hesitation,” in stopping supplying them.


The product appeared on Wal-Mart shelves last month under the name Altern, the paper said. Tate said it had been in touch with Wal-Mart which had withdrawn Altern.


Tate insisted it had strong patents protecting its production processes and technology and that it would enforce them rigorously.