Retail buyers, as every food and beverage manufacturer knows, want it all. Cleaner labels, an improved nutritional profile (lower fat, sugar and salt), great taste and texture - and an even keener price.
Cargill’s stevia brand Truvia has struck an exclusive deal with Grupo Herdez - a leading food producer and distributor - for the distribution and marketing of Truvia in Mexico.
Stevia suppliers are gearing up for action in Canada after Health Canada gave industry the green light to use steviol glycosides as table top sweeteners and food additives in food and beverages on Friday (November 30).
Tate & Lyle tells BeverageDaily.com that its new stevia ingredient, Tasteva, can be used to halve sucrose levels in cola drinks without a bitter aftertaste, and does not use masking agents.
Loss-making stevia supplier GLG Life Tech has reassured investors that it is still “very much” in business in a Q&A document designed to answer questions about its financial affairs.
The ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ campaigns for Californian GMO labeling initiative Prop 37 kicked into overdrive this month ahead of the Nov 6 vote; Pepsi hinted at a big protein-based product launch, Unilever put Skippy on the block and Chobani faced some healthy...
Both sides have accused the other of hypocrisy as the increasingly bitter legal dispute between corn and sugar refiners moved into a new phase this week.
The first wave of products containing a new natural sweetener from oats called OatSweet have hit shelves in the US, and the firm behind it is now in talks with leading food and beverage manufacturers about incorporating it into everything from ice cream...
While the latest blends of steviol glycosides do not have the same bitter, licorice and lingering off-notes associated with some earlier stevia extracts on the market, some still contain “noticeable off-tastes compared to sugar”, says flavors giant Givaudan.
The entrepreneur behind Cweet - a natural high-intensity sweetener from a protein called brazzein- says he expects to secure regulatory approval to sell it in the US in one to two years.
Food manufacturers are increasingly seeing stevia as a way to “reinvent the regular” by helping them deliver incremental calorie reductions in everyday foods, rather than simply serving as a replacement for artificial sweeteners in ‘diet’ products, says...
Californian plaintiff Katie Kane has filed her second amended complaint against Greek yogurt giant Chobani accusing it of violating federal law by claiming its yogurts have “no sugar added” despite the fact they contain evaporated cane juice (dried sugar...
Unilever has added new ‘challenges and wants’ to its open innovation platform, this time seeking help with a stable natural red colour for fruit and dairy, and technologies to reduce sugar in ready to drink teas.
San-Diego-based flavor innovator Senomyx is screening a series of novel plant-based high-potency natural sweetening compounds in a bid to find the next stevia, monk-fruit or monatin.
PureCircle says it is one step closer to establishing its high-purity stevia as a “mass volume, mainstream ingredient” after signing a joint development and supply agreement with soft drinks giant Coca-Cola.
There will be a “significant uptick” in US product launches containing Purefruit in the next six months, while the monk fruit-based sweetener is also moving towards price parity with stevia on a cost-in-use basis for many applications, claims Tate &...
Further evidence that steviol glycoside Reb A is no longer the only game in town when it comes to delivering high intensity natural sweetness has emerged in PureCircle’s full-year results, which show rebaudioside A accounted for just 40% of revenues in...
Tate & Lyle has developed a new stevia sweetener, which it claims does not have the bitter flavour associated with many stevia sweeteners on the market.
Leading corn refiners have accused sugar producers of conducting a “systematic campaign” to vilify high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in a counter claim filed in California yesterday as part of the high-profile legal dispute over the sweetener.
A California judge has granted in part a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit filed against Jamba Juice over ‘all-natural’ claims, but has given the plaintiff the right to amend his complaint.
Extracts from the South African plant Sclerochiton ilicifolius are amongst the ‘most potently sweet naturally occurring substances known’, report scientists from ingredients giant Cargill.
Sunwin USA has ended its distribution deal with Wild Flavors, Inc. to facilitate a global partnership between parent companies Sunwin Stevia International, Inc. and Germany-based Wild Flavors GmbH.
With an industry consensus forming that stevia can only offer a 50% calorie reduction in soft drinks, the US success of mid-calorie cola Pepsi NEXT could silence some of the sweetener’s critics, says one analyst.
PureCircle’s next generation of stevia extracts, nicknamed stevia 3.0, will help the company step up its assault on the global obesity problem, according to Jason Hecker, vice president for global marketing and innovation.
Researchers claim to have identified the bitter taste receptors activated by specific stevia extracts, potentially leading the way to development of better taste modulators and more selective stevia plant breeding.
What’s in Tate & Lyle’s innovation pipeline? That’s top secret, says Karl Kramer, “but we are working on some completely new, completely novel ingredients and exciting technologies. We’re not interested in me-too products.”
If current trends continue, stevia-based sweetener Truvia will be eyeball to eyeball with sucralose-based rival Splenda in the US retail tabletop sweeteners market within two years, brand owner Cargill has predicted.
Combining different sweet components from the stevia leaf – in a similar way to combining artificial sweeteners – may be the next step toward improving the flavor of stevia-sweetened products, says PureCircle’s vp of global marketing and innovation Jason...
We've all heard the statistics - almost 36% of Americans are now obese. But 50 years ago, it was just 13%. So why did we get so fat, so quickly? And what role did sugar - and specifically high fructose corn syrup - have to play?
The number of new products sweetened with stevia extracts in the EU shows a “significant uplift” on last year according to David Jago, Mintel director of innovation and insight.
Big Interview: Ilene Gordon, chairman, president and CEO, Ingredion
With R&D departments at some food manufacturers pared down to the bone as bosses slash overheads to control costs, open innovation has moved from a hot topic on the conference circuit to a practical necessity, says Ingredion CEO Ilene Gordon.
High purity stevia volume sales at PureCircle have increased by more than 20% year-on-year, PureCircle reported in a pre-close update for the second half of its financial year.
Day two of the IFT annual meeting and expo in Las Vegas, and the FoodNavigator-USA team was still standing (just about), roaming the aisles in search of innovation, inspiration (and free snacks)...
A new review of the scientific evidence suggests that fructose may not be as bad as some research has suggested, and may even provide some health benefits.
Which sweeteners are consumers discussing on social media? And is the conversation positive or negative? The rise of social media is giving marketers access to an honest snapshot of consumer perceptions, says research company Loudpixel.
The discovery of a taste receptor that controls the bitter flavour notes associated with stevia could lead industry to new ways to improve the taste of the natural sweetener, suggest researchers.
The fact that the FDA does not regard ‘corn sugar’ as a suitable alternate name for 'high fructose corn syrup' on food labels will add more weight to a false advertising lawsuit which argues it should not be used in marketing materials either,...
McDonald's and Coke have blasted New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s radical bid to ban sales of super-sized sodas from foodservice outlets as “misguided”, while supporters have hailed it as the "boldest effort yet" to tackle obesity.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has denied a petition by the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) urging it recognize 'corn sugar' as an alternate name for high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
ConAgra has reverted back to using high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in its Hunt’s ketchup less than two years after replacing the much-maligned sweetener with sugar.
While consumer concerns about fats appear to have waned somewhat, the percentage of Americans blaming sugars for their expanding waistlines has almost doubled since last year, according to new research.
Monk fruit extract may be set to become a mainstream natural sweetener alongside stevia, but price remains a barrier, according to a Euromonitor industry analyst.
Belgian firm Nutrilab NV is preparing to introduce low-calorie, low glycemic bulk sweetener Tagatose to North and South America later this year, six years after dairy giant Arla Foods pulled the plug on the ingredient claiming it was not commercially...
The Coca-Cola Company is poised to test its own mid-calorie sodas in the US using Sprite and Fanta using natural sweeteners including Cargill's stevia brand, hot on the heels of PepsiCo’s mid-calorie cola launch Pepsi NEXT.
From stevia to monk fruit, oats, agave nectar and coconut palm sugar. In the second of our spring special editions, we look at what’s next for natural sweeteners.
