Global food and beverage manufacturers can now easily create and collaborate on exploring sugar reduction solutions with SweeGen in its newly launched Food and Beverage Application Centers located in four global regions—North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

The centers will create synergy and local interaction with new and existing customers thereby accelerating new product development reflecting local consumer preferences in taste, flavors and ingredients.

“This expansion on application and technical support into local markets is our continuing commitment to provide a unique sugar reduced solution that rapidly reduces product development time for our customers, and delivers a winning product for the region, said Shari Mahon, S.V.P., application technology. “Each facility will feature a full spectrum of development capabilities supporting beverage, dairy, confectionery, snack and bakery foods.”

The flagship California center opened first this year. Mexico and Europe to follow, and Asia-Pacific slated to open by the end of 2020. The opening of the European center will coincide with an anticipated EFSA approval of the company’s Rebaudioside M stevia sweetener in Europe. Additionally, and planned to open later this year in Europe, the company will produce more than 3,000 metric tons of stevia sweeteners per year at its new manufacturing site.

The personalized customer service at the centers is just one of SweeGen’s competitive advantages. SweeGen also provides manufacturers access to reliable high purity world-scale supply of best tasting zero-calorie stevia sweeteners.

“The investment we’ve made in our new application centers is an investment we’ve made in our customer relationships and their businesses,” said Luca Giannone, vice president of sales and marketing. “We see stevia as the preferred global ingredient for sugar reduction and that’s possible because SweeGen scales the production of Reb M, D and E to world levels.”

SweeGen’s Bestevia Taste Solutions a proprietary taste and sweetener platform, featuring its e+ stevia sweetener that delivers a clean stevia taste at a price advantage over single stevia sweetener solutions. With a non-GMO Project Verification, Bestevia enables manufacturers to meet the needs of today’s label-conscious consumers.

"Globally, consumers are looking for healthier options as they continue to reduce the amount of sugar in their diets, and SweeGen is creating collaborative spaces to support food and beverage manufacturers in their application development—from start to finish,” said Katharina Pueller, SweeGen’s director of natural sweetener business. “Our SweeGen Food and Beverage Application Centers provide expert support to manufacturers seeking to be part of the global sugar reduction solution.”

The company expansion comes at a time when concerns of global sugar reduction are prevalent in health and diet discussions. Governments are responding with new measures to limit sugar consumption including bans and taxes. These dynamics are driving companies to conceptualize new products and reformulate iconic brands that meet the new reality of consumer needs and government regulations.