Sweet Green Fields (SGF) is offering new stevia blends and working on others. Optesse Stevia HPS, aimed at various categories, and Optessse Stevia HPX, which are proprietary compositions of purified Stevia Rebaudiana A (Reb A), are the two blends launched at the show. The latter is designed for certain formulations with more complex flavour systems when developing a zero or very low calorie product, the company says.
In addition, SGF is working on an organic stevia extract line, which will be due out before the end of the year. “There’s not much organic stevia on the market and there’s currently a lot of interest in this from Europe and the US,” said Mel Jackson, SGF vice president – science.
Nutrinova Sunsation
Texas-based Nutrinova has launched its Sunsation platform for sweetening low- and no-calorie foods and beverages. The first product in the platform is Sunsation Sunett, a high-intensity sweetener system, which includes its Sunett sweetener brand, which is already used in more than 5,000 food, beverage and pharmaceutical products.
Sunsation Sunett has a clean, sweet taste that is close to sugar, can be used to enhance other flavours and suits a variety of products, from carbonated drinks to yoghurt, says Nutrinova. The solution can also enhance mouthfeel, it said.
Imperial Sugar Company
Imperial Sugar Company is displaying a range of monk fruit extract blends for reduced sugar applications under its NatureWise Sweeteners brand. These include Symple Brown Crystals, containing monk fruit extract and brown sugar, Symple Molasses Crystals, which blend cane sugar and cane molasses with monk fruit, and Symple Honey Crystals, incorporating cane sugar and honey with monk fruit.
Again, monk fruit has been shown to enhance certain flavours, including those of sweet spices such as cinnamon, in addition to being a zero calorie sweetener. Imperial Sugar aims to step up its activities in Europe, but is currently awaiting approval for the ingredient’s use in that market.