EU to further improve steviol glycoside labelling

In order to further regulate the market of steviol glycoside sweeteners, the European Commission recently issued new labeling guidelines, which amended (EC) No 1333/2008 and (EU) No 231/2012 to replace the original steviol glycosides (E 960) labels were further refined

In 2011, the European Union officially listed stevioside (E 960) as a food additive, allowing it to be used as a sweetener

With the deepening of research on stevioside, it was found that rebaudioside M is the sweetest of all steviol glycosides, and it has almost no bitterness and aftertaste of stevioside and rebaudioside A, and is closest to the taste of sucrose

On 28 October 2019, the EU Panel on Food Additives and Flavorings provided scientific opinion on the safety of proposed amendments to the specification for the food additive steviol glycosides (E 960), especially rebaudioside M, providing for rebaudioside M is produced by enzymatic biotransformation of purified stevia extract

In order to further distinguish between steviol glycosides of complete plant origin and rebaudioside M produced by enzymatic method, not long ago, the European Commission issued a new labeling guideline for (EC) No 1333/2008 and (EU) No 231 /2012 was modified to divide the original steviol glycosides (E 960) into two parts, including steviol glycosides from Stevia (E 960a) and steviol glycosides from enzymatic production (E 960c)

It is worth mentioning that the new version of China's "National Food Safety Standard for Food Additives Steviol Glycosides" has also revised the definition of stevioside, adding rebaudioside E and rebaudioside on the basis of GB 8270-2014.

(Karia)

"China Food News" (06 edition on August 16, 2021)

(Editor-in-charge: Yang Xiaojing)