How do you say - "The Best Sweet Tasting Stevia Derviative?"

Implications: Eleven peer-reviewed albeit company-sponsored scientific studies, accepted for publication this week in Food and Chemical Toxicology, signify a significant lead for Coca Cola and Cargill in the natural sweetener race.  The media will have much to say about the new sweetener and so will giant brands like Splenda, Equal and Nutrasweet.  Industry and consumer watchdogs have much to keep them busy too.

Analysis:  The current marketplace need for an affordable, all-natural, safe, non-caloric and non-glycemic sweetener is akin to our need for penicillin in the early 1900s.  The spate of peer-reviewed scientific publications from Cargill and Coca Cola sponsored studies marks just the beginning of other sponsored and independent studies that are already in print or on their way.  Several companies will be declaring self-affirmation GRAS status for their material and product developers in all relevant food / beverage sectors are busy with finishing touches to their reformulated or spanking brand new stevia sweetened products.  It will be interesting to see who will launch the first table-top sweetener and who will gain major market-share and from which brand.  While more than 80% of the world supply of stevia and stevia extract comes from China today, it is now economically worthwhile for a number of countries around the world to switch crops and declare their value propositions in terms of climate, yield or even number of crops per year.  

Consider the market possibilities once the World Health Organization’s Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives declares their verdict on the safety of this material and once the FDA makes their declarations – implied or otherwise.    

Enterprising entities everywhere are poised for the opportunity.  The trademark office is flooded with creative names that focus more on integrity, safety and the experience angle than on the sweetness of their product.   

These are indeed exciting times – in the Chinese sense of the word!