UK safety evaluations

The UK Food Standards Agency writes about stevia and stevioside:

Stevioside is a high intensity sweetener, 250-300 times sweeter than sucrose.

It is isolated and purified from the leaves of the Stevia plant (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni), where it is present at levels up to 13%, and has been used for a number of years as a sweetener in South America, Asia, Japan and China.

As a result of the outcome of safety assessments which have been carried out Stevia and stevioside are not permitted for sale as food or food ingredients in the UK or elsewhere within the EU.

See also

• the letter setting out the acnfp’s views (1998)
• scf's opinion on Stevia (1999)
• eu regulation 2000/196/ec (2000)