The high intensity sweetener can now be used in new categories including vitamins and other dietary supplements, along with snack foods and cereals, jams and jellies, sauces, dips and dressings, canned or processed fruit and vegetables and dairy products.
Sunett, said to be 200 times sweeter than sugar, had already been approved in the US for use in beverages, baked goods, chewing gum, ice cream and yogurts, table-top sweeteners and nutritional supplements.
"The General Purpose Petition has opened up new categories for Sunett and allows manufacturers to combine nutritive and/or non-nutritive sweeteners in a wider range of product categories. For example, in breakfast cereals where the use of sugar can be quite high, Sunett, with its heat stability, can be applied very effectively," said Graham Hall, president and chief operating officer at Nutrinova.
Nutrinova also makes omega-3 fatty acids and dietary fibres. It recently received approval to market its microalgae-derived DHA on the European market.