US-based stevia sweetener producer Sweegen has launched four food and beverage application centres in North America, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.

The company explained that its new centres will enable food and beverage manufacturers to develop and collaborate on exploring sugar reduction solutions.

Sweegen application technology senior vice-president Shari Mahon said: “This expansion on the application and technical support into local markets is our continuing commitment to provide a unique sugar-reduced solution that rapidly reduces product development time for our customers, and delivers a winning product for the region.

“Each facility will feature a full spectrum of development capabilities supporting beverage, dairy, confectionery, snack and bakery foods.”

Sweegen said that the centres will help in creating and fast-tracking development of new flavours and ingredients by interacting with new and existing customers.

This year, Sweegen opened its first centre in California, with Mexico and Europe to follow. The application centre in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to open by the end of this year.

Later this year, the company will be opening its new manufacturing facility in Europe that will have the capacity to annually produce more than 3,000mt of stevia sweeteners.

SweeGen natural sweetener business director Katharina Pueller said: “Globally, consumers are looking for healthier options as they continue to reduce the amount of sugar in their diets, and SweeGen is creating collaborative spaces to support food and beverage manufacturers in their application development – from start to finish.

“Our SweeGen Food and Beverage Application Centers provide expert support to manufacturers seeking to be part of the global sugar reduction solution.”

Last October, SweeGen secured additional funding from Sumitomo Chemical and private equity firm Outlook Investment Group.