Food giants quietly turn natural sweetener into a €3.5bn industry

Over the past decade, a little-known herb 200 times sweeter than sugar has become a €3.5bn global industry, showing up in everything from Coca-Cola drinks to Heinz ketchup.

Not a bad start for a product that many people still think has a bitter aftertaste.

The stevia plant, which can be processed into a zero-calorie sweetener, has taken off as a sugar alternative. Consumption tripled from 2011 through 2016, according to data from researcher Euromonitor. While it’s still a small part of sweetener sales, companies such as Cargill and ED&F Man are investing more — including in a method to improve the taste.