Stevia Hits the Mainstream
As most people know, the natural sweetener Stevia is not approved as a sweetener in the US, and therefore cannot be used in food products. It can only legally be sold as a dietary supplement.
Change may be in the wind, however. Agribusiness giant Cargill has teamed with Coca-Cola on Rebiana, a more highly purified, stevia sweetener. Cargill is pretty serious about it, as it just inked a 10 year supply agreement for stevia extract with GLG Life Tech, and has recently published a series of toxicological studies as part of the FDA approval process. Although the studies are still “in press” and not officially available, the limited info released so far confirms what most people already knew: stevia looks to be pretty safe.
