- Mix two litres water with 100-gram stevia leaf.
- Boil this above for 10 minutes.
- Filter this after 12 hours.
- This Calorie free syrup can keep in the bottle or any other vessels.
- This filter stevia boil syrup can use with Tea, Coffee, Milk and any drinks. (Hot or Cool).
- Now Calorie free syrup is ready.
- Sugar need not be used.
STEVIA USA --FDA
The FDA has given the long-awaited green light for Reb A, the sweetener made from the stevia leaf, to be used in food and beverages - opening the flood gates for new product launches.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has concluded that it has no objection to rebiana, (Reb A) at 95 percent purity or above, having GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status as a general purpose sweetener for food and drink, not just as a supplement.
Two applicants, Merisant Company and Cargill, had notified the FDA that natural, zero calorie sweetener rebiana should have FDA GRAS and submitted evidence to show that it is safe for use in the food supply. They both confirmed they have received official notification of no objection from the FDA.
And within hours Coca-Cola and PepsiCo announced that their first drinks sweetened with Reb A will be hitting US shop shelves shortly.
Coca-Cola partnered with Cargill to develop their rebiana brand called Truvia, and PepsiCo, along with Whole Earth Sweetener Company (a subsidiary of Merisant Company) and PureCircle, have their own product under the PureVia brand.
Marcelo Montero, president, Cargill Health & Nutrition, said: “Given the extensive research conducted to assure the safety of Truvia rebiana, Cargill has tremendous confidence in the product.
“The FDA letter further validates what the science has concluded - that Truvia rebiana is safe for use for all consumers.”
The Malaysian company PureCircle, which boasts of being the world’s largest supplier of high-purity Reb A, also supplies Cargill with the ingredient.
The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) is an international scientific expert committee that is administered jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO and the World Health Organization WHO. It has been meeting since 1956, initially to evaluate the safety of food additives. Its work now also includes the evaluation of contaminants, naturally occurring toxicants and residues of veterinary drugs in food.
At its 69th meeting in June 2008, JECFA ()reviewed new data on the effects of steviol glycosides on blood glucose and blood pressure in humans. JECFA concluded that the results of the new studies showed no adverse effects of steviol glycosides at the levels tested. At this meeting, the temporary designation was removed and JECFA established an ADI of 0–4 mg/kg bw/d (expressed as steviol). FDA notes that the equivalent ADI for rebaudioside A is 0-12 mg/kg bw/d, due to the relative molecular weights of rebaudioside A of 967 g/mol and steviol of 318 g/mol.
In the United States, Rebiana is generally recognized as safe as of December 2008, and stevia is also recognized as a dietary supplement. Stevia has also been approved as a dietary supplement in Australia, and Canada. Since June 2008 it is approved as a sweetener for food and beverages in Australia and New Zealand. In Japan and South American countries, stevia may also be used as a food additive. Stevia is currently banned for use in food in the European Union except in France which approved it for a 2-year test starting September 2009.It is also banned in Singapore and Hong Kong.
In 2007, The Coca-Cola Company announced plans to obtain approval for rebiana for use as a food additive within the United States by 2009, as well as plans to market rebiana-sweetened products in 12 countries that allow stevia's use as a food additive.In May 2008, Coke and Cargill announced the availability of Truvia, a consumer brand stevia sweetener containing erythritol and Rebiana,which the FDA permitted as a food additive in December 2008.Coca-Cola announced intentions to release stevia-sweetened beverages in late December 2008.
Shortly afterward, PepsiCo and Pure Circle announced PureVia, their brand of stevia-based sweetener, but withheld release of beverages sweetened with reb-A until receipt of FDA confirmation. Since the FDA permitted Truvia and PureVia, both Coca Cola and PepsiCo have announced products that will contain their new sweetener.
In December 2008, the FDA gave a "no objection" approval for GRAS status to Truvia (developed by Cargill and The Coca-Cola Company and PureVia (developed by PepsiCo and the Whole Earth Sweetener Company, a subsidiary of Merisant), both of which are wholly-derived from the Stevia plant.
Surging demand
The US is a key market for the natural, zero calorie sweeteners which can be used as a complement to sugar or a substitute for synthetic sweeteners.
Peter Milsted, PureCircle sales and marketing director, told FoodNavigator that receiving no objection from the FDA means that stevia will now move into the mainstream in the US and product launches by PepsiCo and Coca-Cola will signal to other companies to follow suit.
He said: “I think we will see an incredible increase in momentum.
“It now opens the door for Reb A to be used right across the food spectrum.
“Initially what we will see in the market place is beverages. But we have seen interest for food products.
“Other manufacturers now will feel sufficiently confident to go ahead and incorporate it in their own product development.”
He added that companies had been experimenting with applications for dairy, bakery and confectionery products, including boiled sweets and chewing gum.
Milsted stressed it was important for PureCircle that FDA GRAS was for 95 percent purity because “it separates it completely from stevia extract, which doesn’t have that kind of purity level as Reb A”.
Product launches
Coca-Cola North America said Sprite Green and Odwalla juice drinks, due to go on sale this month, would be the first of what it expects to be many US products sweetened with Truvia.
PepsiCo said its first US PureVia sweetened products would SoBe Lifewater in three different flavors, due to hit stores “shortly”.
