Blue California Plans Reb A Production

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. Blue California announced plans to launch commercial production of rebaudioside A via a natural fermentation process by March 2011. The company currently supplies a range of purified natural ingredients including its Good&Sweet Reb-A 99 percent, which is GRAS (generally recognized as safe) for inclusion in a range of foods and beverages.

According to the company, production via fermentation will offer major benefits to the food and beverage industries by eliminating concerns about availability of Reb-A, while ensuring purity and price competitiveness. We are pleased to announce that we have reached the final phase of our research on the fermentation process for Reb-A and are ready to start commercial production during the first quarter of 2011, said Steven Chen, president and director of R&D and innovation. From the very beginning of our work with purified stevia compounds, our ultimate goal was to produce these ingredients through a natural fermentation process in order to control purity and availability. Chen added Blue California plans to produce additional isolated compounds from stevia using the technology.

Cecilia McCollum, executive vice president, added, This innovative process will also allow us to develop unique combinations of several purified compounds from stevia in the near future and offer this natural sweetener at a price that can be more comparable to the price of sugar.