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Buy stocks of stevia

I have been out and about this month. I first went to Jersey, courtesy of the good folk at Elopak, and then off to Madrid for Health Ingredients Europe. I think it’s safe to say that the show is becoming less of a little sister to Food Ingredients, and more of a non-identical twin.

The show was abuzz with news of a new sweetener from the Americas – stevia. You really know when an ingredient has captured the imagination of ingredients companies when you spend the day talking about the product, with variations on why each company’s offering is preferable to others in the market. I am unsure whether stevia really will be the answer to processors' dreams of an all-natural, high-powered sweetener, but one thing is for sure, companies are embracing it. France is the first in Europe to have stevia on-shelf, and if it gains approval, the rest of Europe will no doubt be close behind.

Funnily enough, my mother has been buying it from health food stores in the US and using it in her coffee for years now. I think if news of that gets out, the suppliers may be beating a path to my 76-year-old’s mother’s door to see what new trend she will predict for five years’ time. I see a way to augment her pension!

The news that Jersey butter has not succeeded in garnering the much-coveted European Union PDO might depress some on Jersey, but the managing director of Jersey Dairy, Eamon Fenlon, is a pragmatic man. He says he realises the value in even trying for the appellation is that it’s raised awareness and the profile of Jersey products. He is an optimist at heart, I believe, and I think it is well-placed in his case. Every time people start complaining about the parlous state of dairy, I look at places like Jersey and feel more cheerful about it all. I think we’re going to be ok.






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