PureCircle Has Vastly Increased Its Capacity To Supply Reb M to the Beverage and Food Industries

Enough to Sweeten 500 Million Cases of Carbonated Soft Drinks or the Equivalent

Cost Comparable to Sugar

CHICAGO, July 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- PureCircle (LSE: PURE), the world's leading producer and innovator of stevia sweeteners, announces that its recent advances in expanding capacity now enable it to supply significantly more Reb M to global beverage and food companies.  Using beverage sweetening as an equivalized example, PureCircle can now supply enough Reb M to sweeten about 500 million cases of zero-calorie carbonated soft drinks.  PureCircle continues to build production capacity, and it estimates that three years from now, it could supply enough Reb M to sweeten 1 billion cases of zero-calorie carbonated soft drinks or the equivalent in beverages and foods using Reb M as the sweetener.

PureCircle further estimates that, depending on amounts purchased and terms of purchase, companies buying Reb M from PureCircle will find the cost of using it to sweeten a beverage or food, equivalent to their cost of using sugar to achieve the same level of sweetening.

Reb M is the variant of stevia sweetener which has the most sugar-like taste and which is most sought after by beverage and food companies.  

Until now, a challenge has been that Reb M is present only in relatively small amounts in conventional stevia plants.  PureCircle has developed a proprietary strain of the stevia plant that it calls Starleaf ™ stevia. It contains greater amounts Reb M than conventional stevia plants. PureCircle is massively ramping up its planting of Starleaf. 

PureCircle produces Reb M both directly from the Starleaf stevia plant and from other stevia sweeteners in the plant.  In the latter case, PureCircle starts with purified stevia leaf extract with low Reb M content and by adding an enzyme, the maturation to Reb M is completed, just as the leaf does naturally.  Enzymes play a similar role in various products including baby food, cheese, other dairy products and chocolate.

The Reb M produced from the two processes are both from the stevia leaf and are identical in great taste. 

All of PureCircle's stevia sweeteners – produced using either of the above-cited processes -- are non-GMO. 

In addition, they all are "GRAS."  "GRAS" is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration designation meaning "generally recognized as safe" by experts. 

Beverage and food companies are already using PureCircle's Reb M in their products.  PureCircle's expansion in production of Reb M will help companies obtain supplies of an ingredient they need, as they respond to their consumers' desires for more zero- and low-calorie products using plant-based sweeteners.

Our website: www.purecircle.com

SOURCE PureCircle