From: Food Research network
In order to further regulate the stevia sweetener market, the European Commission has published new labelling guidelines, which amend (EC) No 1333/2008 and (EU) No 231/2012 to further improve the original stevia (E 960) label. So what has the EU changed?
Historical changes of stevia side regulations in European Union
In 2011, the European Union officially listed stevia (E 960) as a food additive, allowing its use as a sweetener. Later, the European Union modified the definition of stevia side and stipulated in 2018 that stevia side (E 960) includes 11 kinds of stevia side, reboriside A, reboriside B, reboriside C, reboriside D, reboriside E, reboriside F, reboriside M, Dukeside A, sweet tea side and stevia bisglycoside. The manufacturing process consists of two main stages, the first stage involves preliminary purification of water extract from stevia leaves and the second stage involves recrystallization purification of stevia glycosides.
With the continuous development of stevia side studies, people have found that Rebaodin M has the highest sweetness among all stevia sides, and at the same time, it almost does not have the bitterness and aftertaste of stevia and Rebaodin A, which is closest to the taste of sucrose. Increasing the yield of rebaudin M is undoubtedly the best way to solve the unpleasant taste of stevia side. However, the content of rebaudin M in stevia leaves is only 1%, so special methods are needed to produce it in large quantities. The commonly used method is to transform the purified stevia extract through a multi-step enzymatic process. The glucose is transferred to stevia via the glycoside bond using uridine diphosphate glucosyltransferase and sucrose synthase. Reibodin M obtained can be produced with a purity higher than 95% after a series of purification and separation steps. It is 200 times sweeter than sucrose.
On 28 October 2019, the EU Group on Food Additives and Flavorings provided a scientific opinion on the safety of the proposed amendment to the specification for the food additives stevia (E 960), in particular reb M, which states that reb M is produced by enzymic bioconversion of purified stevia extracts. After assessment, the panel concluded that there were no safety concerns with Reb M as a food additive and that it had the same range and level of use as stevia side (E 960).
In order to make a further distinction between steviosides of entirely plant origin and Rebaudin M, the European Commission issued new labelling guidelines on 26 July this year, which amended (EC) No 1333/2008 and (EU) No 231/2012. The original stevia side (E 960) was divided into two parts, including stevia side from stevia (E 960a) and stevia side from enzymatic production (E 960c). At the same time, in order to better adapt to the new regulations, the EU has set up a transition period of up to 18 months, during which the use of stevioside (E 960) ingredients label can continue to be sold until stocks are cleared.
The label changes will provide consumers with greater clarity and transparency, help consumers better identify the source of stevia used in food products, and enhance their understanding of natural plant-based sources of stevia.
It is worth mentioning that the new version of the National Standard for Food Additives Stevia Side for Food Safety consultation draft also modified the definition of stevia side, adding four new glycosides such as redbudin E, Redbudin N, Redbudin O and Redbudin M on the basis of GB 8270-2014. The molecular formula, structural formula and relative molecular weight of 13 kinds of glycosides were added. This will also promote the application of high sweetness glycosides such as rebaudin M in the domestic market to a certain extent.
Continuous innovation of stevia products
With the development of enzyme technology and bioengineering, scientists began to improve rebodin in stevia by various meansThe content of M, the proportion of sugar substitute can be increased from the original 30% to 70%, the taste is infinitely close to sucrose. Three common production methods are enzyme modification, fermentation and breeding.
The breeding method is to cultivate high yield of rebodinStevia contains more rebaudioside M than the conventional stevia plant. By growing this stevia on a large scale, the yield of rebaudioside M stevia can be increased by 20% over the conventional stevia plant. The representative product is Starleaf of the Spectrum family.Enzyme modification is the most commonly used method, which is modified by enzyme conversion from rebaudioside A and stevia, which are more abundant in stevia, to rebaudioside M. The two methods above finally produced rebaudin M belong to natural plant source products, while the third method is through fermentation or biological transformation, using genetically engineered yeast to directly transform sugar into Rebaudin M. Rebaudin M produced by this method no longer belongs to plant source, but the product produced is still non-GMO product. It will not be labeled as genetically modified, and it is also a stevia side, but it needs to be labeled as a stevia side produced in a special way. This is currently one of the hottest stevia products in development, but there is still a long way to go in regulation. Among the main GRAS certified products on the market, DSM's fermented stevia side Avansya is produced by the fermentation of saccharomyces Rebaudicoside A by saccharomyces yeyeri strains. Cargill's EverSweet uses genetically engineered baker's yeast to ferment corn glucose into Rebaudin D and Rebaudin M, before removing the yeast completely from the final product and further enriching and purifying it.
The growing stevia market
Consumer demand for low-sugar, low-calorie foods and beverages continues to grow, and stevia has become one of the fastest growing natural sweeteners used worldwide. According toGlobally, products with stevia on the market grew at a compound annual rate of 15 percent from 2015 to 2019, according to Mintel. Data from Innova also showed that stevia was the second most used sweetener in global food and beverage products in 2019, after sucralose and acesulfame.
In the Asia-Pacific region, stevia is growing rapidly. Since theSince 2012, the volume of stevia products sold in the Asia-Pacific region has increased by 40%. The stevia application market in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 5.7% during 2016 -- 2024, making it the largest market in the world in terms of stevia application consumption, followed by Europe (4.3%) and North America (4.5%). The market for stevia applications in the Asia-Pacific region is estimated to reach $208.3 billion in 2020.
When consumed, stevia does not increase blood sugar levels or insulin levels in the blood, and is better tolerated and healthier than sugar alcohols. But there is a lot of rebaudin on the market Stevia, the main ingredient of A, has the disadvantage of poor taste, which makes it less popular than erythritol in China. The new generation of stevia with rebaudin M as the core will undoubtedly become the mainstream of the industry in the future, which also puts forward higher requirements for domestic stevia manufacturers in product innovation and marketing.