IMPROVED STEVIA-A NEW DEVELOPMENT

Though 80% of total sweeteners produced in the world comes from sugarcane, sugar beets and corn starch, the so called non-caloric sweeteners, both synthetic as well as natural are rapidly catching up with the former, growing at a frenetic pace. This multibillion industry boasts of a few well established synthetic sweeteners like Aspartame, Saccharine and Acesulfame, besides semi synthetic ones like Sucralose and Erythritol  while Stevia and Monk fruit represent the natural ones. Of all the non-caloric sweeteners, Stevia glycosides extracted from the leaves of Stevia plant seem to have created a sustained interest among the consumers, probably because it is truly natural. What is holding back Stevia glycosides from overwhelming the food processing industry so far is the bitter and licorcie like after taste noticed in most commercial preparations available in the market. This drawback is reported to have been neutralized by recent development of technology to separate the sweetest component of the glycoside cocktail present in the crude extract, viz Rebaudiside A glycoside (RebA) which has practically no after taste. Here is a take on this new development with some implications for the food industry world over, trying to create products with low sugar to cater to diabetic and weight watching consumers.

"Tate & Lyle (TATYY.PK), the British $5.7 billion market cap global ingredients and food solutions provider recently introduced Tasteva ™, a stevia product the company had been developing for over two years. Tate & Lyle tested over 80 stevia extracts to understand the sensory profile and characteristics. It then isolated certain steviol glycosides to optimize the sweetness that did not have any of the bitter or licorice aftertaste that has been associated with early stevia products. The company claims that feedback from customers who have tried Tasteva shows that the product delivers a clean sweetness and a clear taste advantage over Reb A 97 and other stevia ingredients. According toJeremy Thompson, Director of Natural Sweeteners Product Management at Tate & Lyle, these advantages had been demonstrated across a wide range of food applications, including beverages and dairy. The company also found that Tasteva can cut the sugar levels in colas by 50% with no bitter aftertaste and no need for masking agents. This is a big step in the evolution of stevia because up till now cola manufactures were only able to reduce the sugar levels 30% before the taste was affected. Tate & Lyle sees Tasteva not just for beverages but for food manufacturers that are seeking sweetness from a natural source. Tate and Lyle introduced Tasteva Stevia Sweetener in Latin America, as part of Food Ingredients South America in São Paulo, and plans for more regional roll-outs in 2013".

With the metabolic syndrome disease, diabetes spreading like a wild fire and more than half the population in the developed countries being either obese or over weight, time has come to sideline the nutritive sugars, if possible, in favor of non-caloric counter parts and Stevia and Monk fruit fit into this bill. Of course whether natural sugar as known to day, will ever be replaced completely by one or more of the alternative choices is a question begging for an answer. However considering that no perfect match has been found so far to match natural sugar in terms of its chemical, physical and functional properties, it is unlikely that sugarcane, sugar beets or corn derived sugars will disappear from this planet for the next 100 years! At best industry may switch to blends of natural sugars and non-nutritive sweeteners for developing new products with untainted sweetness and the proportion to day is 50% to 70% of sugar in such blends which may come down progressively in the coming years with renewed research efforts.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

MOVE OVER SYNTHETIC SWEETENERS, HERE COMES STEVIA!

Stevia sweetener is making waves these days riding on a success unparalleled in the history of non-nutritive sweeteners. Food industry seems to be bowled over by the potential this sweetening ingredient can have in the coming years, its biggest asset being the "natural" tag it can claim as it is derived from the Stevia plant leaves through well known aqueous extraction process with no residue problem. Why there was so much delay for this sweetener to catch the attention of the industry and allow others like aspartame, saccharine, sucralose  etc to dominate the markets, till remains a mystery because the product was in the market for the last 30 years. Stevia industry, if one can call it so, was sustaining because of patronage from a single market, viz Japan and it was only after 2008 that it was recognized as a good sweetener. Probably approval by FDA of the US could have tilted the scale in favor of Stevia and the market got further strength after winning approval from the EU last year. Stevia industry has become an organized one with about a dozen players sharing the market and if FAO projections are to be believed this sugar substitute may capture more than 30% of the market within a few years. No wonder that more and more investors are entering this field hoping to catch a significant part of the pie and establish successful business. Here are some details about the Stevia industry as perceived by one of the latest entrants in California, USA.   

"The pace of new stevia product introductions is staggering, as more than 500 new products were introduced world-wide in 2011 alone. Some have experienced considerable success, such as Coca-Cola's Vitaminwater Zero brand that achieved approximately $110 million in sales in its first year. This success has occurred despite the industry still being in its infancy. To date, more than 85% of U.S. consumers still have never purchased food and beverage products that contain stevia. But, consumer awareness of stevia is rising fast, with the percentage of consumers that know of stevia growing from 32% in 2009 to 57% in 2011. Such rapidly increasing consumer recognition bodes well for stevia's continued success and market growth. This is especially true now that regulators in all major markets have approved its use, which no longer holds back the market potential of what many consumers and industry insiders have long considered the "holy grail" within the sweetener market. Jubilation over the success of new stevia products and the approval of stevia in the U.S. and Europe should be tempered with reasonable expectations. With over 10 stevia manufacturers world-wide, not every company will be an overnight success, and current growers and processors of stevia may fall victim to new market entrants, sophisticated new technologies, and an overall modernization and globalization of a fragmented industry that was formed more than 30 years ago and has until now principally catered to consumers in Japan. Technical challenges also exist that could eventually present obstacles to the rapid growth and expansion of the stevia market".

It is remarkable that the source of Stevia sugar known for centuries has remained in obscurity till about 3 decades ago and the search for non-caloric sweeteners because of wide prevalence of diabetes and obesity, brought to the fore its usefulness . Rest is history! The open arm welcome by the US food industry which is turning out thousands of products incorporating this ingredient either to replace natural sugar and HFCS or partially substitute them reflects its ready acceptability and the success story is likely to repeat in Europe also after the approval it got last year. America is a country where one third population is obese and more than 50% are over weight and probably Stevia can be considered God-sent considering the dire need of the population to cut down on calories for their very survival. There are even suggestions by really concerned health experts to blend natural sugar with Stevia to increase the sweetening intensity of the former and market the same as a low calorie sweetener. With Stevia boasting of a 300 fold sweetness compared to natural sugar, the scope for such products is unlimited and governments world over must consider favorable policy interventions to encourage such innovative products. The added bonus will be sparing of millions of acres of land, presently being used for cultivation of the water intensive sugar cane and sugar beets, for growing other more nutritionally beneficial crops.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com