EverSweet fermented stevia to launch in 2018… if we can reach the right deal with Cargill, says Evolva

The plan – which remains “subject to the successful completion by Spring 2017 of ongoing negotiations between Evolva and Cargill” ​– is to first produce the sweetener in Blair, Nebraska through retrofitting existing Cargill facilities, and then explore a move to a new facility that may also act as a production hub for other Evolva products, including nootkatone and resveratrol, said Evolva CEO Neil Goldsmith.

“An EverSweet launch in 2018 would maintain our first mover advantage in the next generation stevia market​.”

If talks with Cargill don’t “translate to an agreement that Evolva believes is value creating for its shareholders​,​” Evolva will “focus on maximising value from its launched, and commercially promising, nootkatone and resveratrol products​,” he added.

Evolva CEO: A 2018 launch would still maintain our first mover advantage  ​

EverSweet was originally scheduled to hit the market in 2016 following a soft launch at the Supply Side West show in 2015. However, while Cargill and Evolva claimed to have nailed the taste, they acknowledged in March 2016 that they had yet to refine the production process such that costs were at an acceptable level.

The launch, said Evolva at the time, was delayed owing to a “complex combination of factors, including strain characteristics; fermentation and downstream processing costs; facility conversion costs, production scale, customer indications on pricing.”​

In today's release, Evolva predicted that “a launch-ready strain will be achieved during 2017.”​

Why fermentation?

While the best-known steviol glycoside - Reb A – can be extracted from the stevia leaf in commercial quantities, it has a bitter aftertaste that formulators have struggled to overcome in certain applications.

However, better-tasting steviol glycosides such as Reb M and Reb D are present in the stevia leaf in such tiny quantities (less than 0.5% by dry leaf weight), Cargill and Evolva claims that it is not commercially viable or environmentally responsible (you’d need huge amounts of land devoted to stevia plants) to extract them from stevia leaves.

By using a genetically engineered baker’s yeast to convert sugars (Cargill is using corn dextrose as a feedstock but could use cane sugar) into these more desirable glycosides via a fermentation process, Cargill and Evolva can produce them on a commercial scale.

According to Cargill, which said today that second quarter earnings in its food ingredients and applications division "saw a solid rebound​​ over last year’s second quarter," ​EverSweet delivers “a great taste with better sweetness intensity, faster sweetness onset and improved sweetness quality - without the bitterness or off-note aftertaste common with other stevia sweeteners.”​

EverSweet works particularly well in low and zero calorie beverages​

While the production process has been getting more media attention than the products, the feedback from leading CPG companies suggests EverSweet could be a game-changer in the beverage industry as firms look to make more drastic reductions in sugar, Cargill told FoodNavigator-USA in late 2015.

If the first wave of Reb-A sweeteners enabled sugar reductions of 30%, and platforms such as Cargill’s ViaTech​ ​ have since pushed the bar to 70% or more, Reb D and Reb M can deliver the Holy Grail in beverage formulation, a zero calorie cola, without any bitter aftertaste, the company claimed.

Cargill has also used EverSweet in zero-calorie fruit waters, sweet teas, lemon-lime sodas and other products that have a full-bodied mouthfeel and sugar-like taste profile that is “just not possible​” with the Reb-A based sweeteners currently on the market, the company added.