Sweet Green Fields Granted First U.S. Patent for Highly Efficient, All Natural Stevia Extraction Process
Known as the Fast Precipitation Process (FPP), the extraction procedure draws RA out of a mid grade stevia extract and turns it into a highly purified RA powder, of 95% purity grade and higher. Another key differentiator of SGF’s FPP is that it is all natural, relying on a water and food grade ethanol for the extraction, as opposed to methanol or wood alcohol.
Feb 1 2012 --- Sweet Green Fields (SGF), a leading US-based global producer of high purity stevia extracts, today announced it was granted a U.S. patent covering the company’s highly efficient method for extracting Rebaudioside-A (RA). SGF’s proprietary extraction method is 33% to 50% faster than the industry’s conventional methods, resulting in a much more efficient and cost effective process.
Known as the Fast Precipitation Process (FPP), the extraction procedure draws RA out of a mid grade stevia extract and turns it into a highly purified RA powder, of 95% purity grade and higher. Another key differentiator of SGF’s FPP is that it is all natural, relying on a water and food grade ethanol for the extraction, as opposed to methanol or wood alcohol.
“This achievement is the culmination of more than a decade of extensive stevia research by SGF, and to our knowledge, it’s the first one ever granted in the United States on a process for extracting high purity RA,” said Dr. Mel Jackson, SGF’s Vice President of Science and the creator of the patented process. “This patent is significant because prior to this, the stevia industry’s published methods have long relied on methanol as part of the extraction process, and these methods were time consuming and costly.”
Jackson began working on the extraction method in 2001 when there were no commercial all natural methods to produce pure RA, and the patent pre-dates all other pending patent applications pertaining to efficiently producing high purity RA. Thus far, the patent has already withstood the challenge of other claims, as well as significant related art.
“Food and beverage companies are increasingly looking for all natural sweetener options that meet their taste and cost parameters, and our FPP is fast, it’s efficient, and it’s all natural,” commented Dean Francis, Chief Executive Officer of SGF. “Combined, this enables us to deliver a premium quality RA product with superior value to our global food and beverage clients seeking healthy sweetener solutions.”
SGF is an integrated sweetener supplier from seed to final product and has been conducting agricultural, process technology, molecular and formulation research on stevia for over a decade. The issuance of the patent confirms the dedication and excellence of SGF science-based approach to the business, and the company plans to explore possible industry licensing opportunities in the future.
Sweet Green Fields is one of the leading global innovators of stevia leaf extracts. Sweet Green Fields’ focus on innovation began in 1999 with the creation of improved stevia varieties through an extensive plant breeding program. This early establishment of proprietary stevia leaf has enabled Sweet Green Fields’ commitment to its “taste the extraordinary” program, pursuing the goal of creating the most sugar-like taste from stevia leaf. SGF’s broad product portfolio of stevia extracts meets customer’s demand from all consumer perspectives: taste, low or zero calorie, cost and sustainability.
Developed for low to medium sugar replacement use, Optimizer Stevia™ successfully enables food and beverage manufacturers to create better tasting, more soluble and less expensive stevia-based formulations than RA95 - RA100.
- Optimizer Stevia™ is a series of proprietary steviol glycosides blends (minimum glycoside level of 95%) extracted directly from stevia leaves. Compared to RA97, the Optimizer Stevia™ group affords up to 20% in cost-in-use savings.
- Optimizer Stevia™ carries a superior taste profile. In a series of sensory studies using beverages with medium sugar reduction (ranging from 2 to 6 Brix) from Optimizer Stevia™, the results showed that Optimizer delivers a very clean taste, without any bitterness and lingering aftertaste, an issue that accompanies use of RA95- RA100.
- Optimizer Stevia™ is more soluble. Optimizer Stevia™ 3.10 is proven to be stable in solutions even when the use exceeds 10% of total weight, making it suitable for syrup and concentrate manufacturing.
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