The Stevia Plant is the Natural Source for Steviol Glycosides

The Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) (5) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) (6) have described the extraction similarly.

Each manufacturer has the freedom to combine and complement individual steps of processing as long as they adhere to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, page 2, point 13. The guidelines of current Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) have to be applied. The quality (7) of the final product is clearly defined. These methods are certainly not drastic or extensive. On the contrary, simple physical separation steps are available. The product of physical separation is by definition an extract. Alone with simple filtering techniques it is now possible to gain the sweetener from the plant.

In addition, we would like to point your attention to a judgement of a German court (8) stating that the “leaves of the stevia plant” are not a novel food, they are not subject to the Regulation (EC) No 258/97 (9) and therefore do not need a Novel Food approval. Having this judgement in mind, steviol glycosides do naturally occur in the traditional food “stevia leaves”, which is why it could be marketed as such (10).

Based on the above, it is clear that consumers get the exact same sweet molecules, which are naturally present in the leaves of the plant and that are offered to them in the form of stevia extracts. The statement, that “the sweetener steviol glycosides has nothing to do with the actual plant”, is misleading and suggests to consumers that steviol glycosides are synthetic compounds. However, steviol glycosides are clearly a part of the stevia plant. This means that, in accordance with the EU regulations cited above, there are no steviol glycosides without the green leaves of the stevia plant.