Assuring Stevia Quality

The leaves of the plant Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) have been used as a natural sweetener for hundreds of years. In recent years, extracts of the leaves have been introduced as natural, non-caloric sweeteners for foods and beverages. The extracts are composed of sweet-tasting compounds called steviol glycosides. Of the nine commonly present glycosides, rebaudioside A (also known as rebiana) and stevioside are primarily responsible for the sweet taste, being more than 200 times as sweet as sucros…