Stevia First is an early-stage agribusiness focused on the industrial scale production of the natural sweetener stevia, which is used as a zero-calorie alternative to sugar in foods and beverages. The California-based company today announced that it has entered into an exclusive and worldwide intellectual property license with the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre of Ontario, Canada, regarding compositions and methods for producing steviol and steviol glycosides through fermentation-based production methods.
Stevia First also said it has inked a separate consulting agreement with Vineland to assist with further development of the underlying intellectual property.
The production of stevia extract involves a complex extraction and purification process, which leads to higher production costs and hinders the sweetener from meeting taste and consistency standards. However, Stevia First reports that Canadian researchers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) have discovered the natural biochemical pathways involved in the production of the sweet components of the stevia leaf. Vineland currently controls intellectual property related to this technology; and leveraging this knowledge, Stevia First says it is possible to produce stevia extract through the low-cost fermentation-based technologies.
“In the stevia industry, which has grown tremendously over the past several years, there is still significant unmet demand from multinational companies for a supply chain that can consistently produce great-tasting stevia extract in large quantities,” Stevia First Corp. CEO Robert Brooke stated in the press release. “The technology we’ve licensed represents a potential solution for this need, and one that our scientific team is eager to commercialize.”
Per the licensing agreement, Stevia First obtains exclusive rights to an intellectual property portfolio derived from a patent titled, “Compositions and methods for producing steviol and steviol glycosides.”
For more information visit: www.steviafirst.com
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