RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif.—Blue California recently announced its Good&Sweet™ Rebaudioside-A (Reb-A) ingredient was self-affirmed GRAS (generally recognized as safe). The company has now submitted its GRAS petition to FDA, which in December 2008 issued no objection letters of GRAS status to two other Reb-A ingredients.
Cecilia McCollum, Blue California’s executive vice president, commented, “Submission of our GRAS dossier to the FDA was the obvious and logical step for Blue California. From the very beginning, we’ve had absolute confidence in the safety and the unmatched purity of our Reb-A”. Blue California’s Reb-A is offered at 97 percent and 99 percent purity and it is independently validated by Eurofins Scientific.
GRAS Associates convened the expert panel that affirmed the GRAS status of Blue California’s ingredient. Robert S. McQuate, Ph.D., the CEO of GRAS Associates, said, “Our Expert Panel was impressed by the documented high purity of Blue California’s Rebaudioside A, and this had a substantial bearing on the GRAS conclusion that was reached. We have submitted the dossier to the FDA with the expectation that Good&Sweet’s high quality compositional profile should result in a favorable response from the FDA.”
For a more in-depth look at what’s next for Stevia-Derived Sweeteners, Robert S. McQuate, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO, GRAS Associates, LLC will be presenting an informative seminar on the topic April 28, at SupplySide East in Secaucus, N.J. Visit SupplySideShow.com/East for more details.