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**PepsiCo and Whole Earth Sweetener Company follow the lead of competitors Coca-Cola and Cargill in announcing their new sweetener made from the stevia plant.
**The trademarked PureVia will debut in a new PepsiCo beverage called 'SoBe Life' to be launched in Latin America, starting with Peru. The sweetener will be launched in the United States this autumn before expanding into drink and food products around the world where it will initially be available in three SoBe Life flavour blends: tropical pomegranate, strawberry kiwi and orange tangerine.
Coca-Cola and Cargill announced the launch of Truvia, a sweetener also made from the stevia plant, earlier in July.
In May, Whole Earth Sweetener Company, a subsidiary of Merisant Company, submitted a notification and supporting scientific data to the FDA that the ingredient is generally recognized as safe for use in beverages, foods and tabletop sweeteners. PepsiCo intends to market PureVia in beverages and foods while Whole Earth Sweetener Company will market the brand as a tabletop sweetener. The stevia derived sweetener has yet to be approved for use as a food ingredient in Europe.
“Consumers have always been looking for a beverage that is natural, tastes great and has no calories, and SoBe Life with PureVia answers the call,” said Massimo d’Amore, CEO of PepsiCo Americas Beverages. “This will have great appeal to health-conscious people who are looking for hydration and natural ingredients.”
“The introduction of PureVia represents the culmination of four years of research and development to bring this revolutionary new product to market and satisfy consumer demand for great tasting, all-natural, zero-calorie sweeteners,” said Paul Block, CEO of Merisant and Whole Earth Sweetener Company. “What’s unique about PureVia is that we’ve identified a way to extract the purest part of the stevia leaf to reveal the cleanest and most consistent taste.”
“This is a potential game-changer among zero-calorie sweeteners,” said Senior Vice President Lou Imbrogno, of Pepsi Worldwide Technical Operations. “PureVia is all natural. It’s extracted from the stevia plant leaf and not synthetically produced. We’ve got ample supply and we look forward to bringing PureVia to consumers around the world.”
As a tabletop sweetener PureVia can be used in place of sugar in both hot and cold beverages, as well as sprinkled on cereal and fruit. It will be available for purchase at food and grocery stores across the United States and at <1> later this autumn in 40-stick cartons.
The active sweetener in PureVia is Reb A, or rebiana, a purified component of the South American stevia plant – long known for its extraordinary sweetness. Stevia is approximately 200 times as sweet as sugar, and Reb A is the sweetest, purest part of the stevia leaf. Other forms of stevia, which typically are less pure than PureVia, are currently sold in the United States as dietary supplements and have been used for years by consumers in countries such as Brazil, Japan and South Korea.
PepsiCo and Whole Earth Sweetener Company have agreed to buy the natural sweetener from PureCircle, a leading supplier of pure Reb A, which also will have the exclusive license to market Reb A under the PureVia brand in certain categories. The global production of stevia leaves is estimated at about 40,000 metric tonnes, of which 80% is grown in China.