Why is Alpro not replacing sugars with steviol glycosides (stevia)?

Alpro is constantly evaluating and testing new ingredients and technologies to improve existing products and to create new ones. As such we’re investigating the possibility of using steviol glycosides (stevia) in our products. Steviol glycosides/ stevia is a sweetener from the stevia plant that’s been approved for use in foods and drinks by the European Food Safety Authority.

However it’s not as simple as swapping sugars in a product for steviol glycosides/ stevia. The regulatory framework provides guidelines on the use of steviol glycosides in different food and drink categories, including the types of products it can be used in, maximum levels of sweetener allowed in these categories, and certain conditions that need to be met. For example, in some categories they can only be used in energy reduced products. Due to these regulatory constraints, replacing sugar for steviol glycosides may not be legally allowed or technically possible. Even when it is possible, we need to test and evaluate the specific taste of the steviol glycosides in the final product as the results are not always as expected.