Ingredion, S&W enter US stevia pilot production supply agreement

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Ingredion, S&W enter US stevia pilot production supply agreement

9 Sep 2021

Liz Goodwin

Liz Goodwin is a Texas-born journalist and photographer. Although a Southerner at heart, she fell in love with the Midwest at the University of Missouri where she earned her bachelor's of journalism. When she’s not writing or behind a camera, she loves to cook, find new restaurants, and spend time outside. Her favorite baked goods include croissants and crackers, especially when topped with fig jam and brie.

WESTCHESTER, IL | LONGMONT, CO — Ingredion Inc., a leading global provider of ingredient solutions for the food and beverage manufacturing industries, and S&W Seed Co., a global integrated agricultural seed technology company, announced their partnership for an exclusive US stevia pilot production supply agreement.

Under the terms of the agreement, S&W will use its proprietary stevia plant portfolio and production techniques to supply Ingredion and its company PureCircle, with high-quality, US-sourced stevia plants.

Stevia is a zero-calorie and plant-based natural sweetener that is up to 350 times sweeter than sugar. It’s found in more than 30,000 food and beverage products globally, and the international stevia market is estimated to grow to $1.6 billion by 2028 according to LEK, a global strategy consulting firm, as well as Ingredion’s internal analysis. Due to historical constraints with climate and harvesting techniques, most stevia is produced outside the US.

Mark Wong, CEO of S&W Seed Company, has been working to amp up American stevia production and expressed enthusiasm for the partnership.

“S&W has developed unique, non-GMO, all-natural stevia varieties over the past ten years utilizing our proprietary plant breeding program,” Wong said. “Recently, we have made what we believe is a significant leap forward by validating efficacy of stevia production in the southeastern United States. By leveraging a unique seed-to-plant process and mechanical harvesting system, we expect to dramatically reduce overall production costs. This method is intended to allow the stevia to function as a green cover crop, helping to sequester carbon. We are excited to enter into this pilot production supply agreement with the world’s largest stevia ingredient producer, PureCircle, to further validate and expand upon our capabilities to date.”

"This agreement strengthens our ability to provide sugar reduction solutions for our customers by diversifying our supply of sustainably sourced stevia in the US," he said. "It will allow us to evaluate the long-term opportunity to effectively produce large quantities of stevia in the US."

Jeremy Xu, Ingredion’s senior VP and chief innovation officer, said he was also happy to work with S&W to grow the sustainable sweetener supply.

“This agreement strengthens our ability to provide sugar reduction solutions for our customers by diversifying our supply of sustainably sourced stevia in the US,” he said. “It will allow us to evaluate the long-term opportunity to effectively produce large quantities of stevia in the US.”

This represents the third major development for Ingredion’s stevia business in the past 14 months. Last July, the company acquired a controlling stake in PureCircle, now named PureCircle by Ingredion. And earlier this year, it announced a joint venture with Amyris to exclusively offer fermented sugarcane Reb M as part of its expanded stevia portfolio. PureCircle by Ingredion is the only stevia supplier to offer all major stevia production technologies from extraction, fermentation and bioconversion.

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