Amber Herman, Sweetness Marketing Specialist, shares insights into how Cargill’s EverSweet® stevia sweetener tackles the industry’s toughest challenges while delivering on taste, health, and environmental goals.
I
n the quest for sugar reduction, taste and functionality have long been barriers for food and beverage manufacturers. But with EverSweet®, venture, Avansya, have unlocked a new frontier in sweetness: one that delivers the clean taste of stevia without the environmental and scalability challenges of traditional extraction.
In this exclusive Q&A with Kennedy’s Confection,
Amber Herman, Sweetness
Marketing Specialist at Cargill, discusses how EverSweet® is setting new benchmarks for sugar reduction, sustainability, and taste. Its cutting-edge fermentation process and its key role in developing the future of better-for-you confections, she shares insights into why this innovation is gaining global traction.
Can you elaborate on how EverSweet® stevia sweetener’s fermentation techniques differ from traditional stevia production methods? With EverSweet®, an innovative stevia sweetener venture, Avansya, formulators can achieve deeper sugar reduction than previously possible with traditional stevia sweeteners without fermentation techniques bringing to life stevia’s sweetest and cleanest tasting components– D – without using the stevia leaf.
As Reb M and Reb D make up less than 1% of the stevia leaf, traditional extraction methods pose scalability and environmental challenges. EverSweet® offers a commercially viable solution with reduced land use, water usage, and a lower carbon footprint compared to traditional extraction methods.
What advantages do they provide in terms of sustainability and taste?
EverSweet® is well-suited to a wide range of food and beverage applications, including drinks such as iced teas, yoghurts and confections. The versatility, especially in confectionery products where taste is paramount.
KennedysConfection.com
traditional stevia extraction and conventional sugar production. A 2023 life cycle assessment 96%, water use by 97%, and its carbon footprint by 81% compared to sugar. Additionally,
it
outperforms bioconversion-based Reb M competitors, with a 76% lower carbon footprint and an 88% reduction in land us
What inspired the development of EverSweet® stevia sweetener in collaboration with Avansya? How does this partnership align with Cargill’s broader goals in sugar reduction?
The push to reduce sugars in food and beverages continues to reshape the industry, and at an unprecedented pace. Recent research shows that more than 60% of consumers are likely to use ingredient labels when shopping, with sugars being the most scrutinised ingredients (Source: proprietary research around sugar reduction found that more than 1 in 2 of European consumers say they are making an effort to avoid or reduce it in their diets. trend challenges manufacturers, as sugars are notoriously hard to replace - no single alternative can replicate sugar’s multi-functional roles, from taste to texture and shelf stability. As brands seek to offer “better-for-you”
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