Sweet Green Fields (SGF), one of the largest global, fully integrated stevia ingredient companies, is set to launch the new stevia-based natural flavor, STEVIAROMA at IFT19, which takes place in New Orleans next week. The ingredient is aimed at helping North American food and beverage manufacturers keep the sweet taste, mouthfeel and flavor of sugar when reducing most or all sugar and replacing with high intensity sweeteners (HIS).

“STEVIAROMA works well in diet or sugar reduced soda, juice, energy and sports drink, flavor water and many more beverages,” Shasha Yu, Marketing Director at SGF tells FoodIngredientsFirst. “We also got good sensory results in ketchup, dietary supplements and dairy products. SteviAroma complies with FEMA GRAS and is labeled as natural flavor on ingredients list.” Thus far, the product is available in US, Mexico, Brazil, Philippines and anywher that FEMA GRAS flavors are accepted. It is patent pending in the US and most countries in the world.

The global food and beverage industry has been committed to reducing the use of sugar for years. And the HIS market has enjoyed good growth driven by cost competitiveness and continuous availability. According to Bekryl Market Analysts, the HIS market size reached USD 1.9 billion in 2017. Applications of stevia and sucralose are growing globally while that of the other HIS is flat or even declining in North America. However, using HIS alone in sugar reduced food and beverages cannot help the brand win 100% of its consumers. 

Labeled as a natural flavor, STEVIAROMA improves the holistic sensory performance of HIS by elevating the sweetness, supplying the full-bodied mouthfeel and modifying the flavor and aroma. Labeled as a natural flavor, STEVIAROMA improves the holistic sensory performance of HIS by elevating the sweetness, supplying the full-bodied mouthfeel and modifying the flavor and aroma. 

“We invented this taste modulator for HIS from the stevia leaf,” says Jack Shi, Chairman and Innovation Scientist of Sweet Green Fields, “we want to mimic 100% the sugar performance in sugar reduced food and beverages. Sugar doesn’t contribute sweetness only, it provides texture and flavor too. Now we have done it with STEVIAROMA, you can get three functions in one natural flavor; enhancing sweetness, mouthfeel and flavor.” 

Jack continues, “STEVIAROMA is a ready-to-use solution and requires minimal reformulation work. One of our customers completed their product development project within a month. And there is another reason formulators will enjoy STEVIAROMA, it lowers the cost as they won’t need as many taste modifiers or texturants as before.”

STEVIAROMA has particular synergy with natural HIS, for example, stevia extracts because it can mask the off-taste and bitterness, cut the sweet linger and build back the lost mouthfeel. “ STEVIAROMA improves the taste of stevia and provides another two dimensions in sensory performance with mouthfeel and aroma”, says Dean Francis, CEO of SGF. “We believe STEVIAROMA extends the application of stevia and will help the continued growth of the natural HIS market.”

The company lists several advantages that STEVIAROMA as a Natural Flavor brings to food and beverage manufacturers:

• Maintain the flavor and mouthfeel of sugar in sugar-reduced products. STEVIAROMA allows for high-level sugar reduction without sacrificing the full-bodied mouthfeel. It also trims the metallic and herbal flavor that is usually associated with HIS. Upon request, STEVIAROMA can provide some desired flavor and aroma, for example, caramel, honey, citrus, and so forth.
• Enhance the sweetness of HIS. STEVIAROMA increases the perception of sweetness intensity of HIS.
• Clean label. Labeling as natural flavor, STEVIAROMA meets manufacturers’ demand to keep a short ingredients list.
• Win in go-to-market speed and first-mover advantage. STEVIAROMA is almost a ready-to-use solution and requires minimum refining formulation work. The shortest product development cycle completed is one month only.
• Cost saving. Using STEVIAROMA enables food and beverage manufacturers to reduce the usage of taste modifiers and texturants and thus save costs.

Earlier this month, FoodIngredientsFirst reported on how Tate & Lyle and SGF have jointly launched their newest product innovation – ZOLESSE Natural Flavor. ZOLESSE, a new natural flavor (per FDA definition), supports an effort to help food and beverage manufacturers to “deliver great-tasting products that meet ever-growing consumer demand for cost-effective clean label ingredients.”