Dear colleague,

Do you heard South Africa proposes 20% tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, in fact, not in South Africa, more and more consumers in Africa begin to reduce intake of sugar in food and beverage because of health awareness. So some leading ingredients company has taken actions.

Cargill has started making a sugarlike product inspired by stevia called EverSweet. It tastes like sugar, has zero calories and got a GRAS stamp of approval in June from the FDA as safe. However, Cargill faces an enormous challenge with its breakthrough ingredient. It's made in a lab.

Since two molecules when combined, it tastes and feels more like real sugar cane are found in less than 1 % of each stevia leaf, the company could never farm enough land to make leaf extraction feasible. Instead the team focused on finding a way to make these molecules in the lab.

Consumers may be worry about “safety concerns” and how to position it, natural or not?

If you also want to know the latest ingredients in food and beverage, in Nov 3-4, Cape Town South Africa, Global Food and Beverage Congress Africa 2016, the only Food and beverage conference in Africa, sets a special topic-- Ingredient Innovation as the Future of the F&B Industry in Africa to discuss about it.