Stevia supplier PureCircle has unveiled a new management team following a probe into accounting irregularities that has delayed the publication of its full-year results and prompted a suspension of its shares.
The European Union now accounts for 40% of all new stevia-containing foods and drink around the world, according to Mintel data, and companies are ramping up efforts to appeal to the market.
Stevia sweeteners can now be developed through fermentation – rather than extraction from stevia plants – but it is the plant-based message that is most important to consumers, according to (plant-derived) stevia supplier PureCircle.
There was a surprising lag in the launch of new products containing stevia in Europe last year – but look out for a sharp increase in 2013, says Euromonitor International’s head of ingredients research John Madden.
Regulatory restrictions and lessons learned from other markets are shaping the way food manufacturers are using stevia-derived sweeteners in Europe, according to supplier PureCircle.
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.
Sweetener firm the Galam Group has combined different stevia extracts to offer what it claims are “optimal taste-profiles to suit all applications needs”.
Increasing demand for stevia and reb A may soon attract the adulterers to crash the party. Mel Jackson, VP science for Sweet Green Fields (SGF) told FoodNavigator that, as his company announces a doubling of their production capacity, the industry must...
