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Can Monk Fruit Save The Juice Drink Industry?



I agree with Ian Quin that monk fruit is a potential “breakthrough” natural sweetener ("Sweet and Innocent?", 9 Aug, p24. The Grocer). Named for the Chinese Buddhist monks who cultivated it for centuries, monk fruit is part of a basket of fruit and herbs (that includes ginger, jujube, rhubarb and osmanthus) used in China in traditional medicine and everyday food & drink. 

The U.S. FDA first granted zero calorie monk fruit approval back in 2010 and it’s been in use since in a number of countries outside of Asia under brand names like Nectresse, Monk Fruit in the Raw, Fruit Sweetness, Sweet-Delicious, and PureLo. Monk fruit sweetened drinks have less of the perceived bitter liquorice aftertaste of stevia particularly in juice based applications, hence it’s potential.  [It surprised me a bit during a panel discussion at FoodVision in March - summarised in a BeverageDaily article -  just how little awareness there was for the fruit and its potential within the industry.]

An increased consciousness about healthy nutrition and the role natural products play in helping us to live better is driving a huge shift to more recognisable (in nature) food & drink ingredients. It is the same for sweeteners. It took EFSA more than 10 years to approve stevia. They need to ignore pressure from artificial sweetener and sugar lobby groups and work faster on reviewing/approving monk fruit derivatives for use in Europe.

The availability of naturally sourced sugar substitutes like monk fruit may be key to both helping to solve the obesity crisis and stemming the haemorrhage of juice-drink sales.......and yes, EFSA approval could fit quite nicely into the next generation of refreshingly delicious, low sugar Tg iced green teas already brimming with ancient wellness ingredients from the "Middle Kingdom" (see Drinktg.com).

Can monk fruit save the juice drink industry? Not on its own but, along with stevia, it can certainly inject more naturalness into desperately seeking lower calorie/sugar formulations and may go some way to improving taste profiles of now stevia-sweetened drinks.

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