New Natural Sweetener from Cargill

Rebiana, which will be sold under the name Truvia, will be available this year as a tabletop sweetener.

 Agribusiness
and commodity trading group Cargill Inc said that it expects its
no-calorie sweetener made from a South American shrub to be on the
U.S. market by the end of the year. Truvia, is made from the leaves
of a shrub called stevia that is native to Paraguay and will provide
a natural alternative to chemical sweeteners including Sweet'N Low
and Equal.
Stevia is not approved as a food additive by health
regulators in the United States or the European Union, though it can
be sold as a dietary supplement. It is approved in a dozen countries,
including Japan, China and Brazil.
Cargill is working with a
number of companies on projects involving the sweetener, but declined
to give a timeline for the launch of other rebiana-sweetened food
products.
Most full-calorie soft drinks sold in the United States
are sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, a cheap alternative to
cane sugar. But corn syrup has been criticized for contributing to
obesity and has soared in price due to climbing demand for ethanol,
which is also made from corn.
Lower-calorie sodas are now made
with artificial sweeteners such as saccharin, aspartame and
sucralose, which are sold under the respective brand names of Sweet'N
Low, NutraSweet and Equal, and Splenda, which is made by Tate &
Lyle Plc.
Drinks sweetened with rebiana would likely appeal to
health-conscious consumers and natural grocers, such as Whole Foods
Market Inc, that tend to carry products made from natural
ingredients.
One of Cargill's rebiana suppliers, GLG Life Tech
Corp, said earlier this month that it started building a
500-metric-ton stevia processing facility in Qingdao, China.