Sweegen’s Bestevia Rebaudioside M (stevia sweetener) approved in Europe

Sweegen’s footprint in Europe became stronger after the European Union Commission published its approval of Sweegen’s non-GMO Signature Bestevia Rebaudioside M (Reb M) for use in food and beverages.

The approval of Sweegen’s Signature Bestevia Reb M leads the future of wellness in food and drink in Europe. According to the company, brands in Europe now have access to the best-tasting highly sought-after stevia sweetener. The availability broadens the toolkit for sugar alternatives to reimagine food and drink, opening new doors for creating healthy products for consumers.

“Sweegen’s Signature Bestevia Reb M approval is a celebration of health and wellness for product developers and consumers alike. This is just one of our many milestones in Europe to transform products for having a positive and lasting impact on our ever-evolving health,” says Luca Giannone, senior vice president of sales.

Consumers are increasingly aware of the need to reduce sugar in their diets for better health. Yet, when they decide to purchase food and beverages, they will ultimately select the brand with the best taste. Therefore, tackling the toughest sugar reduction challenges is a priority for brands as taste is the reason for repeat purchases.

The soft drinks industry in Europe is pledging to cut added sugars in Europe. The Union of European Soft Drinks Associations (UNESDA) announced on June 29 this year to reduce average added sugars in its beverages by another 10% across Europe by 2025.

In its further commitment to Europe, Sweegen has aligned the availability of its Reb M with commercializing the high-purity sweetener at its manufacturing facility in Europe. The facility is open in Europe to help food and beverage manufacturers with rapid production and low-cost-in-use sugar reduction solutions.

To complement the approval of Reb M, Sweegen invested in designing and building its Innovation Studio in Reading, England, west of London. The studio opened its doors in January 2021 with a full applications team to collaborate with food and beverage manufacturers on exploring the entire consumer landscape to understand what trends are driving consumer behavior and then provide inspirational ingredients to represent those trend drivers.

Giannone adds, “Our rapid innovation in application development enables our customer-focused solutions to help manufacturers create great-tasting, clean, natural, plant-based, sustainable products that meet today’s end-consumer needs and desires.”

Around the world, Sweegen’s Innovation Studios are open globally: Southern California, Mexico City, Reading (London) and very soon in Singapore. These studios will leverage local tastes and knowledge while serving as creative centers to explore and discover product innovations motivated by consumer trends and regional tastes.

Hadi Omrani, director of regulatory affairs, says, “Sweegen’s global regulatory mission is the hallmark of opening new sugar reduction opportunities to manufacturers and brands for replacing sugar in foods and beverages, nutritional products, and many other market products worldwide. Europe is an important region in our global regulatory vision as we continually forge the future of wellness in food and drink around the world.”

Sweegen claims to offer brands cost-effective and rapid innovation for sugar reduction solutions for beverage, dairy, savory and bakery with its Bestevia Taste Solutions for Europe.

Sweegen claims to be the first company to receive the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) panel’s safety status for any steviol glycoside produced by alternative and sustainable technologies. Sweegen uses a bioconversion process starting with the stevia leaf to achieve high purity clean-tasting stevia leaf sweeteners. This process enabled Sweegen to obtain the Non-GMO Project verification for its Signature Bestevia stevia sweeteners in the US market.

Bestevia Reb M was commercialized in 2017 and has already been approved in many regions around the world.