US molecular agriculture company Elo Life Systems (Elo) is tackling the country's sugar crisis by developing an innovation. It is a plant-based natural sweetener that contains antioxidants from more than 20 easy-to-grow fruits and vegetables, such as watermelon and cucumber.

Elo Life's alternative to sugar is free of calories and unwanted flavors inherent in other sweeteners. Company CEO Todd Rands told Foodingredientsfirst.

"Our sweetener allows food and beverage companies to reduce sugar and artificial sweeteners while improving the nutritional quality of products. It is 300 times sweeter than sugar, with zero calories and has a clean flavor profile that is superior to other sweeteners," he said.

Rands said the sweetener can be used in thousands of everyday foods that consumers enjoy, from beverages to snacks, cereals, yogurt and ice cream.

Consumer product companies are expected to use Elo Life's sugar alternative to reduce sugar, artificial sweeteners and ineffective natural sweeteners in their products.

"We produced our sweetener from over 20 different fruits and vegetables to determine the most efficient biofactory. Our sweetener will be available in two formats: in liquid form from watermelon juice and in powder form from sugar beets," explained the company's CEO.

The company recently secured $24.5 million in funding, which it will use to further roll out the products. Elo will be increasing its supply of the innovative sweetener over the next two seasons. It will be fully marketed starting in 2025.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL, Ukraine plans to introduce an excise tax on sweet drinks in the amount of 0.1 euros (about 4 UAH) for each liter. This is expected to help reduce the consumption of sweet sodas and reduce the number of Ukrainians suffering from diabetes.

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