Dive Brief:
- Wrigley is rolling out a new line of stevia-sweetened mints across Europe.
- The product line, dubbed Extra Professional Mints, is already available in Germany, slated for sale in 20 European markets.
- Wrigley, the gum and mint company owned by Mars, has used stevia in gums in Japan, where the plant-based sweetener has been legal for many years. But Extra Professional Mints is the company's first stevia-based product for sale in multiple countries.
Dive Insight:
For food scientists and anyone who is sweet on sweets, this is big news.
Stevia -- the plant-based substitute for sugar -- is widely recognized as having tremendous marketing potential. But stevia is also widely recognized as causing problems for food manufacturers. The stuff has a bit of a licorice taste and can leave a metallic aftertaste.
Food scientists have been working hard on getting past those problems for some time now. And Wrigley's latest move would suggest that the scientists have succeeded.