Image source: photo-ac
Author: Kariya
Recently, in order to further regulate the steviol glycoside sweetener market, the European Commission issued a new labeling guideline, which modified (EC) No 1333/2008 and (EU) No 231/2012 to further improve the original steviol glycoside (E 960) label. So, what exactly has the EU changed?
Historical changes in the EU steviol glycoside regulations
In 2011, the European Union officially listed steviol glycosides (E 960) as a food additive, allowing it to be used as a sweetener. Subsequently, the European Union revised the definition of steviol glycosides, and in 2018, it stipulated that steviol glycosides (E 960) included steviol glycosides, rebaudioside A, rebaudioside B, rebodiside C, rebodi glycosides D, rebodiside E, rebodiside F, rebodiside M, dukein A, steviol glycosides and stevia disaccharides, etc. 11 kinds, and its manufacturing process consisted of two main stages, the first stage involved the initial purification of water extraction from stevia leaves, and the second stage involved the recrystallization of steviol glycosides.
Source: National Standard for Food Safety, Food Additives, Steviol Glycosides (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)
With the continuous deepening of the study of steviol glycosides, it has been found that rebaudidin M is the sweetest of all steviol glycosides, and it has almost no bitterness and aftertaste of steviol and rebaudioside A, and is closest to the taste of sucrose. Increasing the yield of rebodiside M is undoubtedly the best way to solve the poor taste of steviol glycosides, but the content of this stevia in the leaves of stevia is only 1%, and it requires special methods to be able to produce in large quantities. The commonly used method is to transform the purified stevia extract through a multi-step enzymatic process, using uridine diphosphate glucose transferase and sucrose synthase, the glucose is transferred to steviol glycoside through glycoside bonds, and the resulting rebaudioside M is purified and separated by a series of purification and separation steps, which can finally produce a purity higher than 95% of rebaudioside M, which is 200 times sweeter than sucrose.
Image credit: Development of Next Generation Stevia Sweetener: Rebaudioside M
On 28 October 2019, the EU Group on Food Additives and Flavorings provided a scientific opinion on the safety of proposed amendments to the specification for the food additive steviol glycosides (E 960) (in particular rebodiside M), stipulating that rebodiside M is produced by enzymatic biotransformation of purified stevia extracts. After evaluation, the expert group concluded that there were no safety issues with the use of rebaudioside M as a food additive, with the same scope and level of use as steviol glycosides (E 960).
In order to further distinguish between entirely plant-derived steviol glycosides and rebaudioside M produced by enzymatic methods, on July 26 this year, the European Commission issued new labeling guidelines, modifying (EC) No 1333/2008 and (EU) No 231/2012 to divide the original steviol glycosides (E 960) into two parts, including steviol glycosides from stevia (E 960a) and steviol glycosides (E 960c) from enzymatic production. At the same time, in order to enable operators to better adapt to the new regulations, the EU has set up a transition period of up to 18 months, during which food products with the steviol glycoside (E 960) ingredient label can continue to be sold until the stock is cleared.
The label changes will provide consumers with greater clarity and transparency, help consumers better identify the origin of steviol glycosides used in food, and deepen their understanding of natural plant-derived stevia.
It is worth mentioning that the new version of the "National Standard for Food Safety Food Additives Steviol Glycosides" draft for comments also modified the definition of steviol glycosides, adding four glycosides such as rebaudidine E, rebodiside N, rebodiside O, rebodiside M, etc. on the basis of GB 8270-2014, and adding the molecular formula, structural formula and relative molecular mass of 13 glycosides. This will also promote the application of high-sweet glycosides such as rebodiside M to a certain extent in the domestic market.
Innovative stevia products
With the continuous development of enzyme technology and bioengineering technology, scientists began to increase the content of rebaudioside M in steviol glycosides through various means, and the proportion of sugar substitutes could be increased from the original 30% to 70%, and the taste was infinitely close to sucrose. Enzyme modification, fermentation and breeding are the three common production methods.
The breeding method is to cultivate a high-yield rebaudioside M and stevia plant variety, this stevia contains more rebaudioside M than the regular stevia plant, through the large-scale cultivation of this stevia, can increase the yield of rebaudioside M stevia, 20% higher than the regular stevia, representing the product is Pisaco Starleaf.
Enzyme modification is the most commonly used method from rebaudidine A and steviol, which are more abundant in stevia, modified by enzyme conversion and converted to rebaudioside M.
The above two methods of the final production of rebaudioside M belong to natural plant-derived products, and the third method is through the method of fermentation or biotransformation, using genetically engineered yeast to directly convert sugar into rebaudioside M, the production of rebaudidin M is no longer of plant origin, but the product produced is still a non-GMO product, will not be labeled as a transgenic, also belongs to steviol glycosides, but needs to be labeled as steviol glycosides produced in a special way. This is currently the hottest one in the research and development of steviol glycoside products, but there is still a long way to go in terms of regulations. Among the main products currently on the market that are GRAS certified, DSM's fermented steviol glycoside Avansya Rebaudidin M is produced by fermenting the sweetening molecule Rebaudidin A by fermenting the Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain; Cargill's EverSweet uses genetically engineered baker's yeast to ferment corn glucose into Rebodiside D and Rebaudidin M, which are then completely removed from the final product and further concentrated and purified.
The growing stevia market
Consumer demand for low-sugar, low-calorie foods and beverages continues to grow, and stevia has become one of the fastest growing natural sweeteners in global use. Globally, products containing stevia on the market from 2015 to 2019 grew at a compound annual growth rate of 15%, according to Mintel data. Innova data also shows that in the new food and beverage products in the world in 2019, the use of stevia as a sweetener has been second only to sucralose and acesulfame potassium.
In the Asia-Pacific region, stevia is growing at a rapid pace. Since 2012, the sales volume of stevia products in the Asia-Pacific region has increased by 40%, and the market for stevia applications in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.7% between 2016 and 2024, making it the world's largest market for stevia applications, followed by Europe (4.3%) and North America (4.5%). The stevia application market in The Asia-Pacific region is expected to reach $208.3 billion in 2020.
Stevia does not cause an increase in blood sugar concentration after human intake, nor does it promote the rise in insulin concentration in the blood, and it is better tolerated and healthier than sugar alcohol substitutes. However, at present, a large number of stevia with rebaudidin A as the main ingredient on the market has the disadvantage of poor taste, making its domestic heat less than the popular erythritol. The new generation of stevia with rebodiside M as the core will undoubtedly become the mainstream of the future industry, which also puts forward higher requirements for domestic stevia manufacturers in product innovation and sales.