Flood of stevia products to arrive soon: SGF's VP of science

A flood of stevia-containing products will arrive over the next 12 months, with beverages leading the way, says Mel Jackson, VP of science for Sweet Green Fields.

Speaking with FoodNavigator-USA at the recent IFT Annual Meeting and Expo, Dr Jackson said: “I assure you [the flood] is going to arrive soon. There is a lot of build-up of products from companies, and I think you will see a lot of products hitting the market over the next year. I think everyone is satisfied that they can get somewhere. “

The majority of the products will be in the beverage space, he said, with the reduced calorie format leading the charge.

“Reb A and stevia extracts really work well with sucrose. Sweet Green Fields has taken a ‘right calorie’ approach to this, so it’s not completely eliminating sugar necessarily, but it’s about finding where the synergies are between stevia and sucrose.”