EverSweet, a stevia sweetener made via fermentation rather than stevia leaf extraction, is one step closer to market entry in Europe having received positive safety opinions in the EU and UK.
Consumer confusion over how best to reduce sugar in one’s diet persists. Are they still looking for ‘zero added sugar’ in sweet drinks? Regulatory and ingredients experts weigh in.
As consumers become increasingly wary of sugar content, CPG companies are meeting the demand for zero-sugar products with the help of natural sweeteners, a trend set to gain momentum in the US as regulators and scientists push for reductions.
Switching from sugary drinks to ‘diet’ drinks or water showed little short-term effects on metabolic or cognitive health outcomes across 12 weeks, a new study has shown.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a new guideline on non-sugar sweeteners (NSS), which recommends against the use of NSS to control body weight or reduce the risk of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).
Natural soda brand Zevia is sweetening its branding with a new look as it aims to boost its household penetration and eliminate plastic from its supply chain, company CEO Amy Taylor told FoodNavigator-USA.
Production of steviol glycosides extracted from stevia grown in Europe produces just 10% of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with sugar production, according a life cycle assessment.
Reformulation and new production development of dairy products, dried foods, bakery and snacks, along with beverages, are driving stevia growth in China and the wider Asia Pacific region, claims global ingredient firm Tate & Lyle.
A new study – published a month after the World Health Organization (WHO) sounded a cautionary note about the long-term effects of zero-calorie sweeteners such as sucralose and saccharin – suggests some diet sweeteners are not inert and can alter the...
International food standards body Codex Alimentarius has adopted a Framework for steviol glycosides that encompasses four different production technologies in a move that is expected to ‘benefit the entire stevia industry’.
The supplier’s range of stevia ingredients produced through bioconversion of stevia leaf extracts will be commercially available to European food and beverage manufacturers later in 2021.
The European Commission has approved the use of Sweegen’s non-GMO Signature Bestevia Rebaudioside M (Reb M) for use in food and beverages. “We are opening the doors for product developers to explore a new toolkit for sugar reduction across all products...
Ingredient supplier Tate & Lyle has launched a stevia sustainability programme in collaboration with environmental experts Earthwatch Europe. The company says the move will help the fast-growing stevia agri sector leverage sustainable practices as...
Fibre and next-generation stevia are expected to play key roles in sugar reduction as a growing number of manufacturers seek out ‘no added sugar’ claims, according to Mintel.
Meat and dairy are regularly targeted for their environmental impact. In the UK, for example, the government’s Committee on Climate Change has recommended a 20% cut in meat and dairy by 2030, rising to 35% by 2050 for meat only. Sugar may be next, warns...
Tate & Lyle has taken full control of stevia supplier Sweet Green Fields (SGF). Abigail Storms, Global Sweeteners Lead, says the move will create ‘more opportunities to innovate with customers leveraging SGF’s deep technical stevia expertise’.
Stevia specialist SweeGen has started commercial production of Reb B, a lesser-known and “highly soluble” steviol glycoside (stevia sweetener) that it says works particularly well in beverages.
From emergency deliveries of aspartame by airplane to adapting manufacturing plants, sweetener suppliers have been working to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their supply chains.
Cargill thinks the future ‘looks bright’ for stevia in beverages thanks to fermentation that extracts the smaller, sweeter compounds in the leaf. It’s been one year since Cargill launched its zero-calorie EverSweet ingredient with the technology.
Ingredients supplier Tate & Lyle has partnered with NGO Earthwatch to assess the sustainability of its stevia supply chain, from seedling producers to industrial farms.
Ingredion's new stevia sweetener, the BESTEVIA® Reb M Stevia Leaf Sweetener, has received approval from Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) to be used as an 'intense sweetener'.
Global stevia supplier PureCircle will soon harvest the first commercial-scale crop of its proprietary Starleaf stevia after completing successful trial plots in 2017 with plans to significantly increase acreage of the proprietary sweetener over the next...
PureCircle is set to plant nearly 16,000 tons of stevia in 2018 - a 200% increase from the year before - to meet increasing global industry demand for a zero-calorie sweetener that tastes ‘the most sugar-like.’
PureCircle has partnered with tobacco farmers in North Carolina (US) to commercially grow its StarLeaf stevia for the next planting season, to meet growing demand for food and beverage launches using the plant-based sweetener.
The demand for healthy and natural products has led to the adoption of plant-based sweeteners such as stevia and monk fruit, with these natural sweeteners offering 200 to 300 times the sweetening power of processed sugar. In this guest article, Ravi Chawat...
Mexico’s Federal Commission for Protection Against Health Risks (COFEPRIS), led by Julio Sánchez y Tepoz, has approved SweeGen's next-generation Reb M sweetener for use in food and beverage categories already approved for steviol glycosides.
PepsiCo is seeking to patent a technique of producing the sugary-tasting steviol glycoside Reb M via an enzymatic method that delivers "higher purity at a lower cost.”
Chinese supplier Guilin Layn Natural Ingredients wants to be the first firm to sell monk fruit in Europe, and has submitted a request for a scientific opinion to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
Cargill says its next generation zero-calorie stevia sweetener EverSweet will be commercially available in 2018 and will offer a taste closer to real sugar.
Swedish supplier The Real Stevia Company will open a processing plant in the sweetener's native Paraguay, adding to its portfolio an 'origin' stevia that is sustainably sourced and Paraguayan from farm to fork.
Today’s health conscious consumers put great emphasis on natural and low calorie: opening up more and more opportunities for stevia, particularly in beverages. But giving consumers confidence will be key to driving stevia's continued growth, according...
A new player in the stevia market - Steviana Bioscience - is looking to carve a niche in the market for next generation stevia sweeteners, which utilize some of the minor glycosides in the stevia leaf, notably Reb D.
Using traditional plant breeding techniques, PureCircle has developed a stevia plant with 20 times more sweet-tasting steviol glycosides than standard stevia, it says.
PureCircle has requested a safety opinion from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for glucosylated stevia as it hopes to bring the enzymatically modified sweetener to the European market in 2018.
Coca-Cola GB to focus on sugar-free brands and phase out Coca-Cola Life
Coca-Cola Life is to be withdrawn from the UK market from June, although the stevia-sweetened drink will remain on offer in 30 markets including the US.
“When consumers are asked an open-ended question, ‘What are you trying to avoid,’ the top three out of four answers are related to a sweetener,” Andy Ohmes, global director of high intensity sweeteners at Cargill, told FoodNavigator-USA.
Coca-Cola has replaced Coca-Cola Life with 'Coca-Cola with Stevia' in Australia; while Nestea has launched a new real-brewed line as part of its brand revamp in the US. From soft drinks to cider, we take a look at some of the new products hitting...
Drinks sweetened with high-Reb A stevia may have similar or higher satisfaction ratings than sucrose drinks, but added fibre lowers scores, according to a new sensory and sensation-focused study.
Partners Evolva and Cargill have made “solid progress” on EverSweet - their hotly-anticipated ‘next-generation’ Reb D and Reb M sweetener – but it will not launch until 2018, two years later than originally anticipated, Evolva revealed this morning.
