EU green light on natural sweetener Stevia

The European Commission announced Thursday it would allow the use of the sweetener Stevia within the EU This kind of sweetener derived from natural plants may replace the synthetic sweetener such as aspartame used in food The decision to use the sweetener in the production and processing of various foods was made with the support of the European food safety agency, the European Commission said in a communique released on the same day Stevia is a new kind of natural sweetener extracted from Stevia, a wild herb native to Paraguay Its sweetness is 200 to 300 times that of sucrose, and its heat is only one third of that of sucrose Stevia is expected to become a substitute for the first generation of sugar sources, such as sucrose and the second generation of sugar sources, such as aspartame According to the international sweetener industry, stevia has been widely used in food production in Asia, South America and the United States China is one of the major Stevia producing countries in the world.