EFSA approval for stevia-based sweeteners

Stevia suppliers have welcomed the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) positive opinion on the safety of steviol glycosides – the sweet components of the stevia leaf – as food additives after the European Stevia Association (Eustas), Cargill and Japanese firm Morita all filed petitions seeking regulatory approval.

EFSA said that stevia-based sweeteners were ‘not genotoxic, nor carcinogenic, or linked to any adverse effects on the reproductive human system or for the developing child’.
The approval was a ‘very important’ step towards approval of stevia sweeteners in Europe, said Peter Milsted, PureCircle’s European vice president, as shares in the company jumped 4%.
The move could leave low calorie products on track for approval by European commissioners by the end of this quarter.

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