US-based natural sweetener producer Stevia First Corp. has announced new technology development and sales collaborations, as it seeks to transform the Mexican and Latin American soft drinks markets.
Stevia First has installed new sugar processing facilities in Mexico with an annual production capacity of 300,000 tons. It hopes to drive change in bottling operations in the country by targeting effective methods of shifting large-scale beverage industry suppliers away from sugar-loaded sodas and soft drinks.
The company is also introducing novel processing steps to reduce the risk of product contamination, and developing methods to enable manufacturers to cost effectively use stevia with cane sugar.
Stevia First CEO Robert Brooke said: “Sugar-sweetened beverage taxes and increasing public health awareness is leading to marked shifts in consumer habits in Mexico, the U.S., and elsewhere. As a company, we are positioned ideally to enable these healthy changes through the use of stevia in particular, which as a zero-calorie natural sweetener we believe will be part of the solution for decades to come.”
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