The European Food Safety Authority, the arm of the European Union responsible for overseeing food safety, hygiene and regulation of food production, has improved the way that products which include Stevia extracts are labelled. Products including steviol glycosides which have not been modified enzymatically will be redesignated as E960a, to help consumers better understand the dietary contents of their food and beverage choices. Enzymatically modified glycosides will be labelled as E960c from January 2023. This will replace the blanket E960 designation that all forms of steviol glycosides have received up to this point. The new regulation has been in the works since 2018, when an application was submitted asking the EU Commission to consider a new production method for rebaudioside M, which uses an enzymatic process to modify the stevia sweetener molecules.

To obtain the E960a rating, the glycosides present must be processed using genetically unmodified stevia, without the presence of any enzymatic processes designed to extract sweetness from the original plant. Given the strictness of the EFSA regulation, this is likely to be closely monitored to ensure strong compliance with the new legislation – ensuring that consumers who enjoy food and beverages marked as containing E960a do so safe in the knowledge that they are enjoying an entirely natural and healthy alternative to traditional sweetness.  Providing people with a choice between all natural and enzymatically processed stevia gives more control to producers. As Stevia begins to grow in popularity, a differentiated labelling allows consumers and brands to align their products and every day choices in consistence with their health and environmental visions.

With a commitment to quality stevia and only the purest and most natural ingredients, SWT purifies their stevia extracts entirely without the use of chemicals. In order to achieve this, we select only the highest quality leaves and ensure our 100% water-based purification process does the rest. This will allow products using our sweetness to obtain the coveted E960a designation and give anyone looking for a great tasting and totally natural product the chance to savour fantastic products with maximum pleasure.

At SWT, we believe that the quality of the sweetness we extract from our leaves cannot be achieved by using synthetic of enzymatic modifications. By following this ethos in everything that we do, we ensure that every bite of SWT stevia delivers perfect, healthy sweetness.