Dive Brief:
- PureCircle is launching a new product development tool that helps create custom stevia ingredient combinations, according to Food Ingredients First. This new system, called Sigma-XceleratorSM, would maximize product taste, sugar reduction, speed to market, cost and solubility.
- The stevia leaf contains more than 40 glycosides, which have different levels of sweetness and varying costs to produce. The Sigma-XceleratorSM would shorten the time it takes to get the taste just right for particular products.
- “This tool will simplify our clients' product formulation work by reducing development time, allowing great-tasting products to come to market more quickly and efficiently,” Faith Son, PureCircle head of marketing and innovation, told Food Ingredients First.
Dive Insight:
Stevia is a natural sugar alternative market leader, and continues to gain ground for a couple of reasons. The stevia plant, which is native to South America, is sustainable and easy to grow almost anywhere. Research estimates the global stevia market was $347 million in 2014, and will increase to $565.2 million by 2020. As CPGs are giving sugar the boot, it follows that PureCircle would do everything in its power to make adding stevia as easy as possible.
Stevia use in CPGs is expected to grow exponentially in anticipation of the soon-to-come revamped Nutrition Facts label, which will require all food products to explicitly list added sugars. Stevia is naturally sweeter than sugar, so less is needed. A number of stevia varieties are shelf stable and can be heated up to 392 degrees Fahrenheit. The natural ingredient can also be blended with other sweeteners and used in virtually any food or beverage application.
When cutting sugar and adding an alternative ingredient, new recipes can take a long time to develop. There is no "one size" stevia that fits all needs. This new tailor-made tool could be a great asset as CPGs from all product categories move forward with sugar alternatives.