Cargill's new no-calorie sweetener gets a nod

A new zero-calorie natural sweetener made by Cargill moved a step closer to the marketplace Thursday when the company announced that its research found the product safe for human consumption.

The studies, published electronically Thursday in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, qualify the new sweetener for retail sales under Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules. No further approval is required.

A Cargill spokeswoman said the product is likely to be on the market later this year. Among the food companies considering its use is Coca-Cola, which collaborated with Cargill over the past three years to develop the product.

The sweetener, with the trade name rebiana and sold under the brand name Truvia, is derived from stevia, a shrub common to South America but also grown in Asia. Cargill plans to obtain its stevia from China, the world's largest exporter of the plant, according to a company spokeswoman.

The FDA has considered stevia an unsafe food additive and has instructed its agents to seize the plant and food containing stevia imported into the country. The stevia import alert, issued in 1995, said that available information on the plant did not prove its safety.

Stevia also has been banned for food use in the European Union and Hong Kong, but it's widely used in a handful of Asian countries and parts of South America.

Although it is not allowed as a food additive in the United States, stevia is allowed as a dietary supplement, with predictably confusing results for consumers.

The FDA sent a warning letter last August to the Hain Celestial Group, the Boulder, Colo., maker of Celestial Seasonings tea, after learning that the company's Zingers to GO Tangerine Orange Wave Herb Tea contained stevia.

Rather than drop the ingredient from the tea, the company changed its labeling to emphasize that the tea is a dietary supplement.

Cargill, answering questions from a reporter Thursday, said the stevia plant has "historical baggage resulting from crude products" that were made in the past, but that an independent panel approved the safety of Truvia, which is a purified constituent of the stevia plant known as rebaudioside A.

Matt McKinney • 612-673-7329