Ready for the stevia switch?

FOUNDED as Stevian Biotechnology in 2002, PureCircle is a leading stevia producer and developer with a strong emphasis on sustainable production. Its intellectual property is the result of 30 years of R&D in natural sweeteners.  In 2007, PureCircle Limited was incorporated as a new global public company, with a mission to encourage healthier diets around the world through the supply of natural ingredients to the global food and beverage industry. Major regulatory clearances, including JECFA, Switzerland, Australia/New Zealand and FDA GRAS in the United States, occurred in 2008. These paved the way for PureCircle’s growth and stevia’s use in foods and beverages, according to Jason Hecker, vice president, Global Marketing & Innovation PureCircle Limited.

Jason Hecker, vice president, Global Marketing & Innovation PureCircle Limited

When comparing natural sweeteners, where does stevia currently stand?

There are a number of natural sweeteners available in the market, such as stevia, sugar, honey, corn derivatives, agave, fructose, glucose and luo han guo. Among these, only stevia, sugar and corn derivatives currently fulfill the mainstream requirements of a mass volume sweetener: great taste; economic pricing; and sustainable and scalable supply. Stevia alone has the added advantage of contributing no calories to foods and beverages and has a low glycemic index, making it safe for diabetics.

What are the impressions on this product, being relatively new?

We expect stevia to grow in popularity as consumer awareness increases.  In PureCircle’s proprietary consumer research, impressions of stevia are very positive among consumers that are already aware of it. Furthermore, consumers that are not yet aware find stevia very appealing when introduced to it for the first time. In-market success of many stevia-sweetened products only further provides evidence of consumer acceptance for stevia.  

Stevia appears well on its way to becoming a mainstream ingredient with uses across a wide range of categories and applications. Specifically, within the beverage industry, stevia has the potential to reinvent many categories through both zero-calorie and reduced-calorie solutions. It has already penetrated the carbonated soft drink, flavoured water, juice, tea, coffee, sports drink, powdered drink mix, drinkable yogurt, and soymilk categories. Additional beverage categories are likely to follow based upon these initial successes.

Do you see a radical shift toward stevia?

Mintel data confirms that food and beverage manufacturers are looking to reduce calories, and that they are shifting toward stevia to achieve this goal. Over the past few years, the ratio of product launches with a nutritive sweetener versus with a non-nutritive sweetener has been decreasing.  However, simply reducing calories is not sufficient for many manufacturers.  To illustrate this, aspartame was represented in 40% of launches with a non-nutritive sweetener in 2009, but only 31% in 2013.  Meanwhile, stevia has increased its share within this group from 5% to 15% in the same time period.

How many products has PureCircle released to date?

We offer a broad portfolio of innovative stevia solutions as proprietary ingredients and customised blends. These include high-purity stevia sweeteners, such as PureCircle Alpha, Reb A and SG95, in addition to a line of PureCircle flavours consisting of flavour modifiers that offer synergies with our stevia sweeteners.  All of our proprietary ingredients are used within PureCircle’s Stevia 3.0? approach to determine the optimal ingredient or combination for any food or beverage application.

As an innovation company, PureCircle is continuously evaluating the stevia leaf to bring the next generation of stevia solutions to the food and beverage industry.  To this end, the company has recently commercialised a number of new stevia sweeteners and natural flavours, all of which deliver customers with more options that address their formulation objectives.

Are there setbacks related to stevia production?

The most important challenge for any ingredient supplier is delivering great taste. Anytime a sweetener is used, flavours and acids must be balanced and the desired mouthfeel must be achieved.  Every application and product has a different matrix to consider. Thus, identifying the right stevia solution requires in-depth knowledge of the ingredient and how it interacts within these varying systems.

Not all stevia ingredients are alike, and we have found that the stevia plant is a wonder of nature, allowing for innovative products to be brought to market.  Challenges that we used to face around bitterness and lingering, as we were initially building the industry have been largely overcome, allowing us to help companies drive deeper calorie reduction in their food and beverages, while delighting consumers. We have a broad portfolio of stevia ingredients with which to work, so we can overcome any taste challenges.

What efforts are being made to drive productivity?

We believe that continuous quality and productivity improvements require careful control and integration of the supply chain.  It is the very reason we have invested more than US$300 million to develop ours.  We are continuously innovating within our supply chain from the point of conventional leaf breeding to select higher quality varieties of leaf, to the way we approach farming across diversified markets, like Kenya, Paraguay and China, to advancements in our manufacturing facilities that help to recycle or utilise byproducts.  Only through a deep level of integration are these improvements possible.

What is your outlook for the Asia-Pacific market?

Momentum for stevia in the Asia-Pacific market is strong.  Nearly 2,000 stevia foods and beverages have launched in the region since 2009, and the launch total has grown each year.  In fact, launch activity is accelerating.  The year 2013 saw a 59% increase compared to 2012, and this growth represents the largest in the past four years.

In this region, is stevia consumption growing in tandem with product launches?

Stevia is a new ingredient for many consumers in Asia.  Ingredient suppliers and the food and beverage industry need to advocate stevia’s benefits and educate the market to boost stevia sales in Asia.  We see many of the same consumer trends in Asia-Pacific that we see in other markets around the world, including calls for calorie moderation and preference for more natural products.  We see food and beverage companies beginning to embrace stevia as a solution to innovation and product reinvention as new markets are getting approved.

Market growth outside of Asia has continued to be very strong, too.  Regulations exist around labeling and claims in differing forms across the world.  However, what has remained consistent across all markets is the response to stevia’s natural origin from the stevia leaf and the positive story behind it.  As a result last year more than 1,600 new products with stevia came to market.

What support does the industry need in order to expand?

While we do work closely with governments, as in the case of Paraguay, to help further develop the agricultural markets that underpin the development of the industry, we see the greatest support to enhance growth of the industry is a tight partnership between ourselves and our customers.  A close partnership is the only way that we can identify taste barriers that our innovation can overcome and build long-term forecast plans to insure necessary agricultural and infrastructure investment is made in lock step with our customers’ needs.

Please explain the positive impact of stevia production on the ecosystem.

Since PureCircle began monitoring in 2006, it has supplied enough stevia to help the food and beverage industry achieve a reduction of nearly two trillion calories in food and beverages. Going forward, PureCircle has the capability to help the food and beverage industry reduce up to two trillion calories per year.

Stevia farming, extraction and purification require less water, land and energy than other natural-origin sweet ingredients.  In fact, PureCircle’s stevia has a carbon footprint 72% lower than sugar and a consumptive water footprint 96% lower than sugar.

PureCircle also positively impacts the ecosystem through investing in rural farming communities. It has a network of more than 28,000 independent farmers across four continents that grow stevia using sustainable agriculture practices. Stevia is an attractive crop for these farmers, as it is practical to grow and offers an attractive economic return.  At current rates, stevia farmers receive much higher revenue than for most other crops, and they are able to continue to grow staples such as rice, providing them with an additional source of food and income.

PureCircle also founded the Global Stevia Institute. How does it tie in with the company’s vision?

The Global Stevia Institute provides science-based information about stevia from leading health experts. Each month more than 35,000 consumers, key opinion leaders and customers access information from the Global Stevia Institute, and this educational resource continues to play a leading role in ensuring people receive accurate information on stevia.  PureCircle also offers its customers the Stevia PureCircle Trustmark to facilitate ingredient trust from consumers.  The Trustmark communicates a trusted ingredient source of the highest quality stevia from PureCircle, and has been licensed by more than 150 products worldwide.  Air Jordan