Company: Tate & Lyle

Website: sweetgreenfields.com

Ingredient Snapshot: Sweet Green Fields (SGF), one of the largest, privately held, fully integrated global stevia ingredient companies, has introduced Optimizer Stevia, a new line of stevia sweeteners designed to meet or exceed the taste profile of standard stevia extracts ranging from Rebaudioside A (RA) 80 to RA97, with up to a 30 percent lower cost. They allow for around 50 percent sugar replacement and provide solubility better suited to high-concentration stevia applications. The Optimizer Stevia range is now available globally.

"Regular stevia products with lower RA purity tend to be highly soluble, but exhibit a detectable bitterness or lingering aftertaste," said Mel C. Jackson, Ph.D., Sweet Green Fields chief science officer. "However, when you increase the RA purity to improve the taste, cost typically rises and solubility becomes an issue. Our innovative Optimizer Stevia line provides manufacturers with a highly soluble sweetening solution that typically enables a lower cost in use without sacrificing taste.

Consumers are increasingly looking for natural sweetening solutions that help them reduce calories and sugars, but they’re not willing to sacrifice exceptional taste. In fact, the most important benefit to a consumer when choosing a sweetener is that it’s ‘a good balance of taste and health’. Stevia ranked second highest in this attribute, second only to honey.

In order to deliver on the increased demands for innovative, non-nutritive sweetening solutions, earlier this year SGF announced a partnership with Tate & Lyle, a leading global provider of speciality food ingredients and solutions, through which Tate & Lyle provides customers with access to SGF’s exceptional line of stevia. This includes the newly launched Optimizer Stevia Line, as well as SGF’s other established ‘Project Non-GMO Verified’ stevia offerings, certified organic stevias, and the breakthrough sugar-like proprietary stevia extract Intesse. Tate & Lyle’s global network of application laboratories and scientists support SGF’s unique range of stevia-based sweeteners to help customers accelerate product innovation and improve speed to market.

"Consumers around the world are looking for easy ways to reduce sugar and calories in their diet, while still enjoying the foods and beverages they love," said Abigail Storms, vice president, sweeteners, Tate & Lyle. "Tate & Lyle’s partnership with Sweet Green Fields provides manufacturers with even more tools to effectively formulate healthier and tastier products. We have already had a positive response from our customers who are particularly interested in natural ingredients and sugar- and calorie-reduction solutions."