News · puri !cation into steviol glycosides. The sweetness in stevia is released by steeping the...
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English Deutsch Ё᭛ in partnership with NP SWEETA / S FIVE Frequently Asked Questions About Stevia What you may not know, but should... News S tevia is fast becoming one of the most popular sweeteners in food and beverage products around the globe. Yet, some misperceptions about it still persist. Here’s a look at ve questions we’re frequently asked, along with answers from our experts. Is stevia natural? While regulations differ about ‘natural’ across markets, what’s most compelling to consumers today is that stevia comes from a plant leaf. The stevia plant is closely related to the chrysanthemum. For centuries indigenous populations in South America have used the leaves of the plant to sweeten beverages or chewed them for their sweet taste. Stevia’s ‘discovery’ by modern researchers led to its extraction and puri cation into steviol glycosides. The sweetness in stevia is released by steeping the leaves in water, like tea. The sweet compounds remain intact and unchanged throughout the process. The extraction process is similar to the one used to obtain white sugar. PureCircle relies on its network of 25,000 farmers from three continents for its stevia harvest. Many of the farms are family run and operated smallholdings, cultivating stevia as a stable cash crop on a few hectares. Is taste a barrier? No, market adoption of stevia as a sweetener continues to accelerate across all food and beverage categories and regions of the world. According to Mintel 1,611 new product introductions using stevia as a natural-origin sweetener were launched in 2013, compared to 1,087 for 2012, for a compounded annual growth rate of 57 percent since 2009.
Transcript of News · puri !cation into steviol glycosides. The sweetness in stevia is released by steeping the...
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FIVE Frequently Asked Questions About SteviaWhat you may not know, but should...
News
Stevia is fast becoming one of the most popular sweeteners in food and beverage products around the globe. Yet, some misperceptions about
it still persist. Here’s a look at !ve questions we’re frequently asked, along with answers from our experts.
Is stevia natural? While regulations differ about ‘natural’ across markets, what’s most compelling to consumers today is that stevia comes from a plant leaf. The stevia plant is closely related to the chrysanthemum. For centuries indigenous populations in South America have used the leaves of the plant to sweeten beverages or chewed them for their sweet taste.
Stevia’s ‘discovery’ by modern researchers led to its extraction and puri!cation into steviol glycosides. The sweetness in stevia is released by
steeping the leaves in water, like tea. The sweet compounds remain intact and unchanged throughout the process. The extraction process is similar to the one used to obtain white sugar.
PureCircle relies on its network of 25,000 farmers from three continents for its stevia harvest. Many of the farms are family run and operated smallholdings, cultivating stevia as a stable cash crop on a few hectares.
Is taste a barrier? No, market adoption of stevia as a sweetener continues to accelerate across all food and beverage categories and regions of the world. According to Mintel 1,611 new product introductions using stevia as a natural-origin sweetener were launched in 2013, compared to 1,087 for 2012, for a compounded annual growth rate of 57 percent since 2009.
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Several global companies, such as Coca-Cola, Danone, PepsiCo and Unilever have introduced stevia-sweetened products and many more are poised to do so in 2014. Stevia is found in products from Japan to Finland, throughout the European Union and across the oceans to Brazil, the U.S. and the Philippines.
Do consumers know what stevia is? Consumers in South America and Asia are already quite familiar with stevia as a sweetening agent due to its long history of use in those regions. Meanwhile major markets worldwide have witnessed increased awareness of stevia, notably in the United States. Earlier in 2013 a PureCircle Insights Group research survey showed aided stevia awareness at 62 percent in the U.S., surpassed only by France at 64 percent. The EU accounted for half of all global new product launches containing stevia in 2012. And Mintel data shows the U.S. is a key market driver, with a 138 percent increase in new product launches containing stevia from 2012 to 2013.
Is stevia too expensive for my application?
Actually companies looking to trim ingredient costs can bene!t from the savings potential of stevia when replacing traditional sweeteners. The beverage category serves as just one example. If 28 billion unit cases of regular caloric beverages across all categories produced by top beverage companies globally reduced sugar by 50 percent through reformulations or brand extensions, it would equate to 30,000 metric tons (MT) of high-purity stevia and would save $2.5 billion in sweetness cost. Stevia makes !nancial sense for companies concerned with tight margins.
Can you make great tasting products with stevia?Absolutely. High-purity stevia !ts comfortably across food and beverage categories. By using PureCircle’s Stevia 3.0™ approach—an innovative
development method, which includes a range of proprietary stevia ingredients and customisable ingredient blends—formulators can create stevia-sweetened products with reduced calories and sugar levels, while satisfying the desire for great taste.
For more stevia insights, contact the PC Insights Group at [email protected]. 6
marketing insights
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r&d innovations
What are Stevia Flavours...and how are they used?Sidd Purkayastha, Ph.D., VP Business Development & Regulatory Affairs, PureCircle Limited, answers questions about the development and benefits of stevia flavours.
Q. First of all what are PureCircle "avours?A. They’re derived from stevia leaf extracts, which are a combination of steviol glycosides. These proprietary natural "avour systems are designed speci!cally to work well in combination with high-purity stevia sweeteners (i.e., Reb A, SG 95, etc.), sugar and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The "avours improve the taste and sweetness pro!le of food and beverages.
Q. Why do they work? A. Our stevia derived "avours work because of the interaction of steviol glycosides with sweetening and "avouring compounds that can in"uence the acidity, "avour and sweetness pro!les in food and beverages.
Q. How are they used?A. You don’t need very much to achieve the effects previously described. Even though they’re used in very small amounts, the
"avours have a profound effect on taste. The stevia "avours are used in an amount below the sweetness recognition level, which is approved by FEMA.
Q. Do the "avours have uses beyond stevia sweetened food and beverages? A. Yes, they can be used just as other "avour modi!ers are.
Q. What is the regulatory status of PC Flavours?A. Our current stevia "avours (NSF-01 and NSF-02) have FEMA GRAS status and can be used as a "avouring agent in major markets globally. Other PureCircle Flavours are now going through the same review process.
Q. How are you bringing these to market? A. We work with our customers, as well as "avour companies; for example, Firmenich is a partner in promoting some of our "avours.
Q. How are they labelled?A. They are all labelled—‘natural "avours.’ 6
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An industry leader in sustainability initiatives, PureCircle announced its 2013 Calorie Footprint, reporting it supplied
enough stevia sweeteners to enable a reduction of 1.8 trillion calories from food and beverages worldwide. “In our 2013 !scal year alone, we supplied enough stevia to enable a reduction of 500 billion calories from global diets,” explained Ajay Chandran, director of corporate sustainability. Since the company began monitoring in 2006, it’s supplied enough stevia to help the industry achieve a reduction of approximately two trillion calories from food and beverage products worldwide. Chandran estimates the company has existing manufacturing capacity to enable the industry to reduce up to two trillion calories per year. “This puts us well on pace to achieve our cumulative goal by 2020.”
Calorie FootprintThe calorie footprint is an estimate of the number of calories that can be reduced within the global diet by modifying the caloric content of a product by replacing some caloric sweetness with zero-calorie plant-based stevia sweeteners. Since high-purity, stevia sweeteners are metabolized by the human body in a way that has almost no caloric impact, a partial replacement of caloric sweeteners with
stevia can have a signi!cant caloric reduction bene!t overall without losing a natural sweet taste. The 2020 goal for the PureCircle Calorie Footprint is to support the cumulative reduction of 13 trillion calories from food and beverages worldwide, with an interim goal of four trillion by 2015.
Stevia-sweetened product launchesThe good news is that global new product launches of stevia-sweetened food and beverages continue to grow with penetration across a wide swathe of categories. In 2013, 1,611 stevia sweetened foods and beverages were launched, according to Mintel’s GNPD database. This was a 48 percent increase from 2012. Nearly 3,300 products were launched over the past three years. Jason Hecker, vice president global marketing, said, “Food and beverage companies around the world have continued to seek ways to reduce calories in their offerings and have increasingly found stevia to be the ideal solution to this challenge. With our broad portfolio of stevia sweeteners and "avours, we see strong demand continuing with deeper calorie reductions in the future.” 6
PureCircle supply chain
PureCircle Helps 1.8 Trillion Calories from Global Dietcut
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The Global Stevia Institute (GSI) greeted 2014 with a new website in !ve languages including English, Spanish, French, German and
Portuguese to bene!t scientists, health professionals, food and beverage manufacturers, public affairs leaders and consumers around the world. An international advisory board comprised of leading scientists and health professionals provides input, articles and guidance for the site. Check the site regularly for research updates, educational conferences or events and the regulatory news needed to make a well-informed ingredient choice. http://globalsteviainstitute.com
Impressive body of research supports stevia safetyOne helpful resource compiles the research studies and reviews related to the health and safety of stevia. Stevia has been the subject of hundreds of studies conducted over several decades in countries around the world, supporting the health bene!ts and safety of high-purity stevia extracts. The bibliography section currently spans 64 pages listing more than 200 expert studies attesting to the safety of stevia. http://globalsteviainstitute.com/resourcelibrary/researchstudies/
Want to know the regulatory status of stevia in Indonesia? France? Belarus? The “Resources” section lists regulatory approvals from countries around
the world. Links lead to the various regulatory bodies, listing their positions on stevia inclusion as an ingredient in foods and beverages.http://globalsteviainstitute.com/resourcelibrary/regulatory/
Stevia fosters healthier choicesA section covering Nutrition and Health contains expert articles on timely health topics that discuss for example, the challenges facing society in regard to global obesity and balancing calorie intake in children and adolescents. As a zero-calorie, plant-based sweetener, stevia acts as a natural tool for weight management for all ages. Another section discusses how well stevia !ts into everyday health. http://globalsteviainstitute.com/learn-about-stevia/nutrition-health/ 6
Global Stevia Institute Site Relaunch
health headlines
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Latin American presence growsContinuing its mission to encourage healthier diets around the world, PureCircle opened a new location in Mexico City. “This puts us closer to our customers, so we’re in a better position to provide faster product development support to them,” explains Mauricio Bacigaluppo, vice president sales Latin America. “Customer service, sales, technical and application specialists are all now located in the region.”
Customers are invited to inquire about PC University seminars at the new location. Contact [email protected]
Dairy items sweet success at FiE 2013Using its unique Stevia 3.0™ approach to product development, PureCircle impressed attendees at Food Ingredients Europe with delicious reduced-calorie dairy prototypes. Spoonable strawberry yogurt, cherry-"avoured frozen yogurt and soft serve vanilla ice cream—were ‘must-try’
items for visitors to the PureCircle, TereosPureCircle and NP Sweet stand.
Missed the show and want to learn more about formulating great-tasting, reduced-calorie dairy products? Contact [email protected].
PureCircle nominated for sustainability awardPureCircle was a !nalist for the 2013 Food Ingredients Europe (FiE) Excellence Awards. The company was nominated in the Sustainability Initiative of the Year
category for its pioneering work in quantitative measurement of the positive impact of replacing nutritive sweeteners with natural-origin stevia. PureCircle gave an impressive showing, coming in a very close second after a much debated decision.
Find out more about PureCircle sustainability initiatives at http://www.purecircle.com/company/corporate-social-responsibility.
Expanding into Middle East PureCircle announces a new distribution partnership with Ekin Kimya to develop the Turkish market. Visit them at Fi Istanbul, 24 - 26 April 2014, stand B66 to taste the latest in PureCircle Stevia 3.0™ food and beverage prototypes. If you’d like to schedule a booth meeting, contact Muserref Kalay, sales director, MEA [email protected]. 6
global company news
FiE 2013
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NP Sweet is a European partnership between Nordzucker and PureCircle focused on providing reduced calorie, sweetening solutions from a natural origin to food and beverage manufacturers across Central, Northern and Eastern Europe. NP Sweet is part of PureCircle’s global leadership, offering PureCircle’s unique stevia portfolio, as well as stevia-sucrose blends for Europe.
Tereos PureCircle Solutions is a partnership between PureCircle and Tereos, a co-operative agro-industrial group specialized in the primary processing of sugar beets, sugar cane and grains. Tereos PureCircle Solutions offers PureCircle’s unique portfolio of high-purity stevia extracts and innovative sweetening solutions, as well as Stevia-Sucres, which combines sugar and stevia extracts for Europe. 6
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