Stevia: Himachal institute patents sugar

New Delhi / IN. (gov) The Indian government has yet to approve stevia sugar as a food additive even though many countries in the western world has allowed its use in food and beverages. Scientists at the Institute of Himalayan Bio-resource Technology (IHBT) in Palampur, a branch of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in Kangra district (India), have successfully used stevia sugar as a food additive.

They wonder why it is not being used as an additive in India even though the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) of the US has already approved its use in food items. Until today Stevia is used only as a herbal product in India. «We have successfully used stevia sugar for preparing sweets, bakery products and ice creams», a IHBT spokesman said to local media. Stevia sugar, a South American herb in origin, is said to be at least 40 times sweeter than conventional sugar and does not raise the blood sugar level. «The processing technology has been patented by us. We have already transferred the technology to three or four private companies».

The institute scientists have also extracted stevioside from the leaves of the stevia plant, the first zero calorie plant based sweetener, the institute claims. The only difference between sugar extracted from sugarcane and stevioside is that stevioside is not sticky and so cannot be used to cook certain Indian sweets where traditional sugar can bind and paste the ingredients well.