Splenda Opens First Fully Integrated Stevia Farm in the US

Splenda®, the world-renowned low-calorie sweetener brand, has announced the opening of the first fully integrated stevia farm in the United States. The Splenda Stevia Farm is fully operational in Central Florida. It aims to produce superior-tasting stevia sweeteners while building an emerging US agriculture industry and decreasing environmental impact by eliminating unnecessary CO2 emissions caused by current global stevia supply chain operations. The Splenda Stevia Farm Management team designed the 1,465-acre farm to be eco-conscious from its inception. By growing stevia in the US, Splenda will reduce CO2 emissions by simplifying the existing complex and heavy transportation infrastructure, eliminating the need to transport products overseas. This move is significant not only in terms of reducing the carbon footprint but also in terms of building the US agriculture industry.

“At Splenda, our mission is to help people live happier, healthier, and longer lives by making it easier to reduce sugar. By growing higher-quality stevia plants and producing better and sweeter-tasting stevia sweeteners, we can help consumers achieve their sugar reduction goals,” said Ted Gelov, Chairman & CEO of Heartland Food Products. Splenda’s ultimate goal is to help Americans cut unwanted sugar from their diets by 25% or more by 2030. Splenda’s consistency of sweetness from acre to acre results from an all-natural process, without genetic engineering, that utilizes the propagation of mother plants with the sweetest combinations of stevia glycosides. Ricardo Reyes, EVP of Global Manufacturing, Quality, and R&D at Heartland Food Products, said, “Splenda has been investing in the natural breeding of stevia plants for more than 20 years, producing stevia plants with a variety of flavor profiles that can be used to develop customized sweetener blends.”

Stevia, The Future Of Sweetening?

Stevia is a natural, plant-based sweetener derived from the leaves of the Stevia rebaudiana plant. It is considered a low-calorie alternative to sugar because it has a negligible effect on blood glucose levels and has zero calories. Stevia is a popular alternative sweetener because it is much sweeter than sugar, meaning less of it is needed to achieve the same level of sweetness. The Guarani people of South America have used it for centuries as a natural sweetener for tea and other beverages. Today, stevia is widely used in food and beverage products as a natural alternative to sugar and other artificial sweeteners.