NEW PRODUCTS

Despite taste and cost misgivings, the surge in sales to date, EU clearance and growing demand for low-sugar products correlated with a rise in obesity, has prompted food giants to launch new products.

Coca-Cola’s flagship drinks Sprite and Nestea’s recipes have been modified to include stevia in a bid to cut the sugar level by up to 30 percent and will soon be available in French stores, Claire Meunier, nutrition manager at Coca-Cola France said.

The world’s main producers of compounds from stevia’s leaves like Rebaudioside A (Reb A) are Malaysia’s PureCircle and U.S. agrigiant Cargill.

Tereos PureCircle Solutions, created in late 2010, sells stevia-based sugar products to food and drink makers in several EU countries including Belgium, Italy and Spain.

Tereos also replaced aspartame with stevia in some of its low-calorie tabletop sugar Beghin-Say Ligne and sales trebled in the year to March, Laborde said, adding that the firm was in the process of launching a stevia powder sugar in France.

“The French market was absolutely key. In light of the success, we had a model to apply, time to look at the results and adapt our strategy to other countries,” Merisant’s Badinand said. The firm has now deployed stevia in around 20 EU states.

Merisant sells a stevia version of its flagship product Canderel and created a separate brand, PureVia, whose products - powder and cubes - look like sugar but contain none.

PureVia sales grew by 81 percent and Canderel Stevia by 115 percent in the year to end-February to a total of 14.7 million euros and Merisant targets 20 million in 2012, Badinand said.

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By Sybille de La Hamaide
PARIS