Unlocking new markets with stevia

DRIVEN by a surge in consumer demand  for  healthier options, the market for all natural, zero-calorie stevia sweeteners is exploding. Hence manufacturers are directing efforts toward product reformulations. Questions about sugars and sweeteners top the list of consumer concerns today, suggesting that functionality might be waning in favour of a return to products with “a lack of additives” that are “unprocessed and unadulterated.”

The addition of stevia to the range of sweeteners opens new possibilities to address the growing demand for healthier diets and natural ingredients. Manufacturers face multiple technical and formulation challenges, particularly in overcoming the off-notes and aftertaste associated with stevia-derived sweeteners. Whilst stevia’s taste may work with some fruity flavours in beverages, with others, the flavour requires some modulation to be acceptable to consumers.

Flavour and ingredient companies are helping manufacturers (customers) not only to optimise flavour and taste profiles with a range of natural solutions for a broader range of applications, but also with products that are natural and free of chemical processing.

Confectionery: untapped market
Low-calorie beverages form the fastest-growing segment in the food and beverage market, as they offer a more convenient diet and meal replacement option than diet foods. Stevia is now used in all kinds of foods and beverages – gummies, fruits, functional beverages, juices, yoghurts and sauces. It is also used in toiletry and pharmaceutical applications.

However, stevia’s application in confectionery remains largely untapped. Increasing awareness and concern amongst parents about the impact of eating too many sweets on their children’s health is pushing manufacturers to rethink the role of healthy confectionery to prevent dental caries. Sugar-free and tooth-friendly products are mainly limited to chewing gum, mints, herb drops, just to name a few.

Research shows that that consumers are looking for healthier alternatives to sugar-coated chocolate sweets and are willing to pay premium for tooth-friendly variants if these alternatives become available on the market.

Sweet and tooth friendly
The approval of stevia in the EU and South Africa could signal a breakthrough for sugar-free and tooth-friendly confectionery as manufacturers can beak the artificial association with sweeteners.

Stevia is viewed as something parents may be comfortable with for their children to consume than some high-intensity sweeteners. Whilst some companies are able to create sugar-free variants of most confectionery products,  they  also  recognise  that formulations can become more difficult with soft products.  This is not the only challenge manufacturers face when working with stevia in confectionery – they also have to determine what other sweeteners or bulking agents to combine it with, and if the combination meets consumers’ needs and acceptance.

Overcoming bitter aftertaste
Flavour suppliers are always looking for solutions to mask the bitter taste of stevia. Some intensive sweeteners are bitter, metallic, or have a licorice-like cooling aftertaste. Sweeteners with a lingering sweet taste can accentuate off-notes of other ingredients in candies, not noticeable in the original product, and many consumers complain of an “artificial aftertaste.”

Tate & Lyle has developed a new stevia sweetener, which it claims does not have the bitter flavour associated with many stevia sweeteners on the market. The new sweetener is a proprietary blend of steviol glycosides, the sweet compoAir Jordan IX Low