Stevia expansion: German biotech company collaborates on innovative process

15 Jun 2018 --- German-based biotechnology company, c-LEcta, together with an unnamed “leading ingredient supplier” have developed a new method to help expand production of a new plant-based sweetener. The plant-based origin and safety of these sweeteners in combination with their very sugar-like taste make them suitable for large-scale use in low- and zero-calorie beverages and foods like soft drinks or diet products.

The German-based company for industrial biotechnology applications c-LEcta, in partnership with an ingredient supplier, developed a process based on the enzymatic treatment of precursors of these sweeteners. This new enzymatic treatment now makes it possible to convert the precursors into a better tasting sweetener efficiently.

These sweeteners are safe and suitable for people with diabetes. The cultivation is more sustainable due to the smaller use of resources required in the process, according to c-Lecta.

c-LEcta CEO Dr. Marc Struhalla comments: “We are very proud of what we have achieved in the framework of this close cooperation. Our highly effective enzyme process helps provide the food and beverage industry with a greater supply of great-tasting, plant-based sweeteners. That increased supply helps enable the production of zero-calorie soft drinks sweetened 100 percent with plant-based sweeteners. The enzyme technology made in Germany has been incorporated at commercial scale and has the potential to enable our partner to change the world market for natural sweeteners decisively.” The sweetener produced via this process is US FDA GRAS, making it available for use by food and beverage companies in the US.

Struhalla adds: “We have already expanded our enzyme production capacities and are confident that together with our partner we will be able to provide the required quantities for large-scale use of the sweetener in the food and beverage industry. The commercialization harbors the potential to take our sales to a new level prospectively and expands our existing product portfolio.” 

When approached by FoodIngredientsFirst for further information, a c-LEcta spokesperson said that they couldn’t confirm who the ingredient partner was, but they did note that the FDA recently approved the sweetener. 

Speculation from the industry has been that stevia supplier PureCircle is the other partner involved in this project, however. Although PureCircle neither confirmed or denied that they are partnering with c-LEcta, Director of Global Marketing, Carolyn Clarke did send the following statement to FoodIngredientsFirst: “We are quickly expanding the availability of the best-tasting stevia sweeteners. We are using two ways to do that. We are rapidly expanding our planting of Starleaf. Starleaf is our proprietary variety of stevia which contains much greater amounts of the best tasting stevia sweeteners like Reb D and Reb M.”  
 
“In addition by understanding how the stevia plant creates Reb M, we are able to scale up these great tasting sweeteners. As stevia matures from seedling to full-grown plant, the sweet parts of the stevia leaf are formed. This typically happens consistently with the leaf naturally producing enzymes which convert Reb A to Reb D and then to Reb M.”

“We start with purified stevia leaf extract with low Reb M and by adding enzymes, the maturation to Reb M is completed, just as the leaf does naturally. This produces a non-GMO stevia leaf sweetener with high sweetness quality and no bitterness, for use in no-sugar-added/zero-calorie foods and beverages,” the statement concludes.

By Elizabeth Green