FDA Has No Objection to Rebiana-Based Sweeteners
FDA has reportedly stated that it has no objection to granting GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status to stevia for use as a zero-calorie natural sweetener in foods and beverages. An extract form is currently marketed as a supplement, but FDA said it lacked the necessary scientific data to lift an import restriction on food-grade stevia, which is also known as rebaudioside A (Reb A). Several food companies recently requested approval for stevia-based sweeteners after supplying regulators with data that demonstrated the safety of the food additive at 95 percent purity or above. See BeverageDaily.com, December 18, 2008.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), however, has called on the next Congress and President-Elect Barack Obama to reverse this “last minute” decision. The consumer watchdog cites research conducted by University of California, Los Angeles, scientists who purportedly concluded that stevia “is inadequately tested in terms of cancer and caused mutations in some laboratory tests.” “The FDA has had a poor track record when it comes to allowing companies to market dubious ingredients, such as the stomach-churning fake-fat olestra and the anaphylaxis-causing Quorn mycoprotein,” stated CSPI in a December 18 press release.
