As stevia moves into the EU food market, interest is already turning to new quarters and suggestions of a rival in the natural sweetener stakes have focused interest on luo han guo (Siraitia grosvenori/Momordia grosvenori), or monk fruit, a Chinese fruit 300 times sweeter than sugar. A review of new product activity in the Innova Database reveals that products containing luo han guo are largely confined to Asia, particularly China and Malaysia, and focused on its use as a sweetener or in herbal teas or fruit products.

Until now, regulatory issues have confined luo han guo to supplement-type products in the U.S., with Innova Market Insights reporting 2010 launches mainly involving liquid, capsule and tea concentrate supplements. However, during 2009 Celestial Seasonings also launched an all-natural Gingerbread Spice Holiday Tea with luo han guo and Kellogg’s Kashi Heart to Heart brand introduced a Warm Cinnamon Oat Cereal with luo han fruit concentrate. The early part of 2010 saw New Zealand-based BioVittoria, the world’s largest producer and processor of luo han guo, gain GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status from FDA in the U.S. for its Fruit Sweetness fruit concentrate made with luo han guo, opening the door for its wider use in a range of sweetening and flavor enhancing applications, including beverages, gum and baked goods. This step created potential for a mainstream move for luo han guo along the lines of that experienced by stevia, also a natural sweetener, following its GRAS approval in the U.S. at the end of 2008.

According to LuAnn Williams, head of research for Netherlands-based Innova Market Insights, major food and drinks companies have yet to include luo han guo in their products. Although it does mirror stevia in that it has been allowed in parts of Asia for many years, stevia does have the added advantage of being used in processed foods and drinks in Japan for many years, giving way to formulations and applications that could then be adapted more easily for the Western market.