PureCircle, the world’s leading supplier and producer of high purity stevia ingredients, celebrated the opening of its London, UK office and imminent EU approval of stevia with the pan-European Everything Stevia conference on Nov. 3rd 2011. Industry leaders representing over 70 European food and beverage companies learned Everything Stevia, from innovative formulations to branded product case studies. The all-day seminar, hosted by PureCircle and their partners Tereos PureCircle Solutions, NP Sweet and Prinova, Ltd, supported the immense opportunities for stevia as an ingredient and PureCircle’s commitment to growing the new European stevia market.
Amid lush greenery, stevia plants and a bountiful selection of stevia-sweetened global brands, delegates learned about the innovative PureCircle ingredient portfolio, met with the company’s European partnership network, and tasted a variety of successful products already launched successfully around the world through interactive exhibits. Delegates also learned about PureCircle’s unique, ownership of the supply chain through a discussion panel featuring Liz Muller, Sustainability Consultant, LM Associates and PureCircle supply chain experts.
Beyond the exhibition, presentations from industry experts gave valuable insight into the growing global stevia industry and the new European market. Consumer insights research and a review of current label messaging and the EU regulatory framework were presented by Sally Campbell, Industry Sector Head of Consumer Goods, Synovate and legal experts Francis Morgan, Director and Sian Croxon, Partner, DLA Piper. Product insights were delivered through case studies on successful brand launches in France, including Pure Via tabletop sweetener presented by Hugues Pitre, VP & Managing Director EAME, Merisant and Beghin Say Ligne, a blended stevia-sucrose table top, discussed by Jean-Renaud Lourette, Managing Director, Tereos PureCircle Solutions. Family and kids category product development lessons from the Asia-Pacific market were relayed by Darek Kosla, National Operations Manager, Tru Blu Beverages. Additionally, PureCircle’s leaders discussed the growth of the industry, successful stevia applications, and the company’s innovative portfolio of ingredients.
“European consumers are calling for more natural choices, and we anticipate that consumers will welcome foods and beverages naturally sweetened with stevia in 2012,” commented Jordi Ferre, President Commercial Division, PureCircle Ltd. “With the launch of our UK operations, and as the largest supplier and producer of stevia ingredients worldwide, PureCircle is well-placed to lead stevia’s introduction to the European market.”
Everything Stevia also gave delegates the opportunity to meet esteemed Global Stevia Institute Board members, Dr. Margaret Ashwell OBE and Dr. Jean-Michel Cohen, who explained how stevia can help reduce calories in diets across Europe and discussed their work with the Global Stevia Institute. The impact of stevia was further highlighted by PureCircle’s announcement that it has now sold enough no calorie stevia to eliminate one-trillion calories from consumer diets worldwide. The announcement, based on product sales through the company’s fiscal year end of June 2011, reveals stevia’s potential to help policymakers, manufacturers and consumers address the global obesity epidemic.
“PureCircle encourages healthier diets around the world through the supply of natural, no calorie ingredients to the global food and beverage industry,” commented Jason Hecker, Vice President, Global Marketing and Innovation for PureCircle Limited. “Our current operations can produce enough stevia ingredients to remove over two trillion calories per year from diets globally. Policymakers and consumers are calling for healthy changes now more than ever. Today we’ve brought together our European network and invaluable resources to educate manufacturers on how to launch with stevia and help the food and beverage industry become part of a needed solution.”
To learn more about Everything Stevia, visit www.purecirclesteviaevent.com and contact PureCircle for further tools to support your stevia product launch.
More Information:
Allison Mikita, Communications and Nutrition Specialist, PureCircle Limited
(866) 960-8242
Allison.Mikita@purecircle.com
About PureCircle
PureCircle (www.purecircle.com) is the global leader in the production of high purity stevia products. PureCircle is leading the industry with the development of a vertically integrated, sustainable and natural supply chain. Stevia is now being grown for PureCircle across South America, Africa, Asia, and the United States where it provides a sustainable cash crop for rural farming communities in each region. PureCircle has developed a broad portfolio of ingredient solutions and has pioneered such ingredients as Reb A, SG95, stevia/sugar combinations and recently introduced breakthrough ingredient PureCircle Alpha for deeper calorie reductions. The company has also brought to market PureCircle Flavors, which were developed to enhance flavour and sweetness of other stevia sweeteners, sugar and HFCS. PureCircle has extended its reach through joint venture partnerships with leaders in the sugar industry, including Imperial Sugar in the US to create Natural Sweet Ventures, as well as Tereos and Nordzucker in Europe to create Tereos PureCircle Solutions and NPSweet A/S. As part of its leadership of the stevia industry, PureCircle has pioneered the industry trust mark Stevia PureCircle®, which educates consumers about the benefits of stevia and provides a strong base of trust for both consumers and food & beverage companies alike. The company has also developed the Global Stevia Institute (globalsteviainstitute.com) led by a global advisory board of internationally recognized health professionals with the mission of promoting accurate, science based information on stevia. PureCircle’s global headquarters are in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. PureCircle shares are traded on the LSE AIM index.
