Get the Facts
Have a question about Sweet Green Fields, Reb A or any of our other
products? Try our Frequently Asked Questions first. If you still can’t
find what you’re looking for, you can ask us directly through our Contact
Us page, or call 360.483.4555
What is SGF’s Natural Sweetener?
What is Stevia?
What is Reb-A (Stevia Extract)?
Is your sweetener genetically modified?
What are Glycosides?
How is your sweetener made?
Regulatory Approval
What is SGF’s Natural
Sweetener?
Our stevia products, high purity Reb-A and high purity steviol glycosides are all-natural, high-intensity and zero calorie sweeteners derived from Stevia leaf (Stevia Rebaudiana ) , the sweet and finest tasting part of the Stevia plant. SGF products are FDA approved. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) notice for Reb-A sweetener use in food products in December 2008. Extensive studies have shown that Reb-A (Stevia Extract) does not affect blood glucose or insulin levels. Studies have shown that high purity stevia extracts are safe for diabetics.
Back to Top
What is Stevia?
Stevia is a plant native to Paraguay that has been used as a natural sweetener for centuries in South America. Japan began to replace artificial sweeteners with Stevia in the early 1970s. Stevia has been referred to as the "holy "holy grail" of sweeteners and now represents more than 40% of the sweetener market in Japan. Stevia is considered 200 - 400 times the sweetness of sucrose.
Our sweetener is an unmodified extraction from the Stevia plant and is unique in that:
- We extract the finest tasting glycoside to a very high purity level
- Sweet Green Fields does not use enzymatic or chemical modification
of the glycosides to yield our high purity level of Rebaudioside-A
Back to Top
What is rebaudioside-A?
Reb-A (Stevia Extract) as an all-natural sweetening ingredient, refers to relatively high purity Rebaudioside A naturally extracted from the stevia leaf that is used in powder or liquid form to heighten sweetening intensity and improve taste.
The stevia leaf contains a number of very similar compounds or steviol glycosides that are all sweet. The best tasting of these is Rebaudioside A. In its highly purified form, it has sweetness between 250 to 400 times that of an equal weight of sugar and very. Chemically, Rebaudioside A has a backbone that is conserved through most of the steviol glycosides. The difference between it and the other glycosides is the number and positioning of glucose molecules along that backbone.
For Rebaudioside A, the R1 position is a single glucose molecule, the R2 position is two glucose molecules. If Rebaudioside A only had the same sweetness as sugar it would have much more calorific content than sugar. However, nature has produced a molecule that is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar and therefore the very small amount needed to sweeten a food product means that the Rebaudioside A contributes essentially zero calories.
Back to Top
Is
your sweetener genetically modified?
No, our plants have been selectively
bred to increase the overall glycoside production and specifically
the Rebaudioside-A content.
Back to Top
What are Glycosides?
Glycosides are a collection of organic compounds
that form a simple sugar and play a myriad of important roles in living
organisms. Glycosides occur in large quantities in plants. They are soluble
in water and Sweet Green Fields obtains the Rebaudioside -A glycoside from
Stevia plants by a method that utilizes water extraction.
Back to Top
How is
your sweetener made?
Some portions of the process are proprietary.
The major steps in the extraction are:
- Water extraction (dried leaf is placed in warm water and the
glycosides dissolve in the water).
- Pressing the wet leaf to squeeze
out the sweet juices.
- Fine mesh filtration to separate leaf organic
material and sweetened water.
- pH adjustment precipitates out bitter
tasting organics from sweetened water.
- Proprietary organic filtration
and extraction to isolate the desired glycosides (meets US and Canada
food grade processing standards).
- Spray drying the final product (evaporates water used
in extraction, also carried out in North America). There is no processing
to adjust flavor, color, and appearance. Nor is there any modification
of the glycosides. No enzymes are used in processing.
Back to Top
Regulatory Approval:
SGF products are FDA approved and meet JECFA specifications as well. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) notice for Reb-A sweetener use in food products in December 2008.
While already approved in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and many other parts of the world. Regulatory approval for this amazing all natural high intensity sweetener is just around the corner. In September of 2008 the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) reviewed the large amount of scientific studies on high purity Reb-A (stevia extract) and published a favorable conclusion concerning its safety and have continued to generate very favorable reports. Early in 2011, the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) also approved it and now the petition to have it included as an ingredient for use throughout Europe is with the European Parliament, where it is expected to be approved for general consumption. France has already approved it separately, and retail products containing it are readily available. Further evidence that the World is ready for this sweetener was recently made even more evident with the publication of the proceedings of the joint FAO/WHO food standards program, Codex alimentarius commission from Geneva, Switzerland, 4-9 July 2011. It gave guidance on usage levels in common foodstuffs. The rest of the World generally follows the Codex guidelines and so the door is now open for Reb-A (stevia extract) to become a natural sweetener ingredient option for the benefit of all!
Back to Top