What is stevia and why are food & beverage makers looking at it?

The sweetener is billed as an effective substitute to sugar, considered a key cause of diabetes in India

Stevia, a natural sweetener, first came into the spotlight five years ago when the scientific panel at the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) recommended its usage in food & beverage products. 

The sweetener was billed as an effective substitute to sugar, considered a key cause of diabetes in India. 

But, it was only in November 2015 that FSSAI finally gave the go-ahead for stevia's usage in products here, implying manufacturers could go ahead and use it in their formulations.

The products where stevia was allowed included carbonated water (that is, soft drinks), dairy-based desserts and flavoured drinks, yoghurts, ready-to-eat cereals, fruit nectars, jams, jellies, marmalades, soft drink concentrates, non-carbonated water-based beverages, ice lollies, chewing gum and table-top sweeteners.

While companies such as Coca-Cola, Cargill and PureCircle had applied to FSSAI for use of stevia in their products earlier, PepsiCo has trumped them all by developing and test-marketing a stevia-based drink under 7Up.

FSSAI had recommended upto 200 mg per kg of steviol glycoside in carbonated water, soft-drink concentrates, yoghurts, fruit nectars, dairy-based flavoured drinks and non-carbonated water-based beverages. Ice Lollies or edible ice could have upto 270 mg per kg of steviol glycoside, dairy-based desserts and ready-to-eat cereals can have upto 330 and 350 mg per kg respectively of the chemical compound, while jams, jellies and marmalades can have upto 360 mg per kg of the ingredient, the Novembre 2015 notification said.

Chewing gum, on the other hand, could have upto 3,500 mg per kg of steviol glycoside, while table-top sweeteners could have upto 7 mg per 100 mg of the ingredient, the notification said.

Globally, Coca-Cola uses stevia in products such as Coca-Cola Life, which is billed as a health-conscious spin-off of its flagship cola. Rival PepsiCo has Pepsi True in its portfolio which has stevia in it.

Cargill, in contrast, markets a popular table-top sweetener in the US called Truvia. This product uses two additives stevia and erythritol in combination with each other.

Stevia extracts, according to food safety experts, are upto 300 times sweeter than sugar. To achieve the profile of sugar therefore using it with another additive helps, they say. 

Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi in India, for instance, use aspartame and acesulfame K, which are synthesied, high-intense sweeteners. So does Coke Zero, which also uses a combination of aspartame and acesulfame K.

If stevia is allowed, say sources, it is to be used in combination with low-intense sweeteners so that it could go a long way in helping manufacturers replace high-intense, synthesied sweeteners, which are said to be cancer-causing.

Apart from aspartame and acesulfame K, the other high-intense sweeteners permitted in India include splenda or sucralose and saccharine.