Coca-Cola exploring new sweetener for beverages

By Matt Casey, BevNET Staff Writer

Coca-Cola is exploring beverage applications for Truvia – the natural, zero-calorie sweetener the company co-developed with Cargill – but a representative from the company declined to say when those products might launch.

“For competitive reasons we cannot discuss the timing,” said Dr. Rhona Applebaum, vice president and chief scientific and regulatory officer for The Coca-Cola Company.

Zanna McFerson, business director for Cargill Sweetness Solutions, also dodged the question of whether Coca-Cola would have exclusive access to the sweetener in the beverage world.

“This collaboration is about combining the core competencies of both companies to bring this product to market,” McFerson said. She added that Cargill would bring the sweetener to the food market while Coca-Cola would bring it to the beverage market.

McFerson and Applebaum spoke Thursday during a teleconference announcing completed research on the product. The sweetener is 200 times sweeter than sugar and derived from the stevia plant by way of drying the leaves then steeping them in water.

Stevia sweeteners are already widely used around the world, but previous attempts to bring the product to the U.S. food market have been blocked by the Food and Drug Administration, most recently in 2004 – though stevia products are available as “dietary supplements.”

Leslie Curry, Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Director for Cargill Food and Ingredient Systems, said Truvia, which has not yet been approved by the FDA, differs from previous U.S. attempts at stevia sweeteners because it is purer, more consistent and better researched.

For more information on Truvia, click here.

Source: BevNET.com Staff