Stevia Extracts as Food Additives and Supplements
The South East Asian Food and Agricultural Science and Technology – SEAFAST Center of IPB, in cooperation with the Indonesian Foodreview organized the in-depth seminar on "Stevia, A Natural Sweetener for Food and Beverages " on Thursday, 9 April 2015, at the IPB International Convention Center (IICC), Bogor. The objective of the seminar was to socialize the new natural sweetener for food and beverage which is called stevia.
Stevia is a natural sweetener made of the leaves of stevia plant. This sweetener is approved by Badan Pengawas Obat dan Makanan (POM – the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency) and the active compounds of stevia are Steviol glycosides. The legal status of stevia extracts as food additives and supplements was approved by POM in 2014. Stevia itself claimed no calories but has a higher sweetness than sugar. So the new natural sweetener is expected to help health issues such as obesity and diabetes mellitus.
The seminar was participated not only by scientists and academicians, but also by representatives of 115 companies engaged in the Food & Beverages. The content materials on the special occasion were the stevia stability, security, and regulations set forth by the POM. The resource persons invited for this special meetings were representatives of the POM, SEAFAST Center of IPB, PureCircle Inc., Canadean, and the Global Stevia Institute.
Researchers of SEAFAST Center of IPB, Prof. Dr Nuri Andarwulan, who is also faculty member of the Department of Food Science and Technology (ITP) of Faculty of Agricultural Technology (FATETA IPB) presented the use of sweeteners in food processing in Indonesia. "The use of food sweetener in food companies had been developed, similar on the use of aspartame as a sweetener in foods was replaced by sucralose," stated Prof. Nuri. (Wied)
