Research: Innovations in Stevia Production to Accelerate Sustainability

Ingredion, a leading global provider of specialty ingredient solutions to the food and beverage manufacturing industry, published the results of its most comprehensive environmental life cycle assessment of stevia. 

The global study was conducted to better understand the sustainability of stevia across its product life cycle compared to full-caloric options including cane sugar, beet sugar and high fructose corn syrup, and identify opportunities to improve the environmental performance of PureCircle by Ingredion’s stevia portfolio. 

“Our latest findings clearly show that all of our stevia production methods consistently outperform sugar across four key sustainability metrics due to recent innovations in Reb M stevia production,” said Kurt Callaghan, global strategic director for sugar reduction at Ingredion. 

The findings show fermentation and bioconversion technologies have significantly improved the sustainability of Reb M — a next-generation stevia sweetener from PureCircle by Ingredion. For example, fermented Sugarcane Reb M production reduces negative climate change impact by 82% compared to sugar, while bioconversion shows a 50% reduction. 

New production methods have scaled Reb M, making it more readily available to food and beverage companies of all sizes. These innovations allow brands to capitalize on the latest consumer-driven nutrition, health and wellness trends, offering sugar reduction options which support wellness and sustainable lifestyle choices.

The life cycle assessment is a methodology used to quantify potential environmental impacts associated with the life cycle of a product or service, from cradle to grave. The proprietary study measured the environmental impacts of sweeteners derived from stevia leaves from their extraction and processing to their distribution to consumers, using environmental indicators which includes climate change, land use, water scarcity and cumulative energy demand.