Stevia, Truvia, Purevia, Zevia … What’s in a Name?
A battle of names is brewing among PepsiCo, Coca Cola, and a company called Zevia LLC., that’s threatening to make life very confusing for consumers.
First, a little background on stevia, the wonder plant that’s brewing all this trouble. It’s a pest resistant plant that is native to South America, and has been used for centuries as a sweetener by the natives there.
Flash forward to a few centuries later, and the Western world was introduced to the potency of the leaves of the plant – a whopping 200 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia-based products were introduced, although the FDA did play party pooper. The agency hasn’t certified stevia’s use as a food additive, but requires it to be branded as a dietary supplement.
Now, enter the two cola giants. Coco Cola Company, in collaboration with Cargill developed a no-calorie natural sweetener using what it calls, the “best tasting” part of the stevia plant. The company also called its product Rebiana, after the sweetest compound of the stevia leaf, which it had managed to isolate. The product is available online, and at select supermarkets in the US, as Truvia.
Just as the company was on its way to introducing Truvia as an all natural sweetener, PepsiCo took the wind out of Coke’s sails with the launch of its new no-sugar beverage recalled SoBe Life, containing the company’s very own natural stevia-based sweetener, Purevia. The drink has been launched in Latin America, and is available in Peru in strawberry-kiwi, orange-tangerine, and pomegranate flavors. The Coca Cola Company, having been flummoxed by PepsiCo, has decided to zip its lips, regarding its own plans to develop a range of Truvia based no-sugar beverages. The company had announced its plans to develop a table top sweetener based on stevia extracts last year, and now, with PepsiCo’s surprise launch, has obviously decided that silence is indeed golden.
If all that wasn’t confusing enough, now there’s another new cola maker on the block which has introduced its no-sugar and no-artificial sweetener cola, called Zevia. The company claims that its three varieties of diet soda are healthier than regular diet sodas available in the market that contain artificial sweeteners. Take that, Diet Coke!
Analysts believe that all this bitter competition in the no-sugar beverage world, may not actually have the desired impact on individual sales. Customers are likely to be confused with the similar sounding names, and what they stand for. It sounds like new entrant Zevia, could actually ride the coat tails of PepsiCo and Coke to super sales!
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One Response to “Stevia, Truvia, Purevia, Zevia … What’s in a Name?”
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Um, Zevia has been around for YEARS. They are not a new entrant into this playing field. What’s more, their product uses REAL stevia, not the genetically-modified, chemically-altered versions foisted on the unsuspecting public by Coke and Pepsi.
AND…their product just plain tastes better.