$100 Million Stevia Market Spurs More Launches

A recent Mintel (www.mintel.com) report calling stevia a sweetener “holy grail” predicts the market is poised to break $100 million this year due, in large part, to Reb A’s US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval last December. In 2008, the market totaled just $21 million; in 2011, it could break the $2 billion mark. According to analyst David Browne, “The FDA’s approval of stevia in food and drink opened the door for this market’s explosion. New product activity has accelerated in recent years, and since most categories with stevia applications remain untapped, we expect many more stevia-infused product introductions in the next few years.” For the first eight months of the year, Mintel tracked 110 US food, drink and healthcare product launches. This comes despite the fact that 70% of Americans have never heard of stevia, 62% claim to have no interest in it, 25% might have interest in it and 11% are suspicious of its safety implications.