FDA Approves Safety Standards of GLG Stevia Extracts

VANCOUVER, British Columbia—The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) letter of no objection covering several of GLG Life Tech Corporation’s high-purity stevia extracts, including its Rebsweet and AnySweetPLUS products.

The GRAS program is an FDA-approved process that enables companies to conduct independent GRAS determinations through consultations with qualified experts to determine that an ingredient satisfies the FDA's safety criteria. Accordingly, GLG engaged GRAS Associates, LLC, who convened an independent panel of expert scientists to spearhead the safety assessment and compile a dossier describing the months-long study and its results. GLG subsequently submitted that dossier to the FDA for review, resulting in the FDA's letter of no objection.

To date, GLG has received five GRAS letters of no objection covering an array of high-purity stevia products, with a sixth GRAS determination pending FDA review (for high-purity rebaudioside M) and two other GRAS projects currently underway (for high-purity rebaudioside C and D). Additionally, GLG recently announced its submission of a GRAS notification to the FDA for its Luo Han Guo (Monk Fruit) extract products. GLG currently has the largest number of stevia products certified under the GRAS process.