Analysis of Truvia
Truvia is a natural Sweetener brand. The brand is owned by Cargill, an international company with a variety of food and agricultural products and services. Cargill was established in 1895 and currently operates in 65 countries across the world with over 140,000 employees.
Truvia, as a natural Sweetener, became available in the market in the year 2008 after it was approved by the FDA as safe for human consumption (Food Standards Australia New Zealand 2010). Initially, nutritionist believed that Stevia, the plant which makes Truvia, had some side effects. However, upon further research, it was proven to be safe for consumption as a natural sweetener (Cargill 2012).
In 2008, Cargill had teamed up with Coca Cola to introduce Truvia to the international markets including Australia. Truvia was marketed as a calorie-free sweetener used in the manufacturing of healthy calorie-free soft drinks and as a tabletop sweetener. The calorie-free natural sweetener is gradually gaining popularity as a substitute to sugar and artificial sweeteners.
The sweetener market in Australia
In Australia, Sugar is still the number one sweetener with a 70% market share. However, more people are looking for alternative sweeteners because of the health risks associated with sugar. According to Global Industry Analysts (2011), the sweetener market in Australia is growing at 4% annually.
The market is dominated by a few companies that concentrate on manufacturing artificial and natural sweeteners and they include Nutrinova, Imperial Sugar, Nutrasweet, McNeil Nutritionals, Danisco, Merisant, Spherix and Tate & Lyle (Global Industry Analysts 2011).
Currently, the most commonly used sweetener is Aspartame followed by sucralose and saccharin. The use of Truvia and other Stevia based sweeteners is still less than 5% of the sweetener market (Kroger, Meister and Kava 2006).
Artificial and natural sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners are more commonly used especially for industrial use than the natural sweeteners. This is attributed to the high level of sweetness in the artificial sweeteners which can be up to 200 times more than that of sugar. Some of the artificial sweeteners include Sucralose, Saccharin, Neotame, Aspartame, Alitame and Acesulfame potassium.
On the other hand, some of the popular natural sweeteners include Stevia, xylitol, cyclamate, Glycerol, hydrogenated starch and brazzein. For the natural sweeteners, they have had problems getting approved by the FDA because of controversies pertaining their composition and side effect (O’Brien-Nabors 2001).
Demographic lifestyles
Sugar is still the cheapest and most available sweetener in the market. However, the artificial and natural sweeteners are popular with the old people between the ages of 50 and 75 years old. This group of people are conscious of their health since most of them are prone to lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.
The young people are still reluctant to use the natural sweeteners such as Truvia because they feel safe using sugar which has got calories. Most tabletop sweeteners such as Truvia are more expensive than sugar, therefore, the lower class part of the population prefer to use sugar which is cheaper and readily available in the local stores (Global Industry Analysts 2011).
Consumer Purchase Behaviour
The sweeteners retail market is yet to gain prominence with Australian consumers who still prefer to use sugar for both tea and coffee. The main consumers of the natural and artificial sweeteners in Australia are the juice and Soda manufacturers who seek to reduce the calorie levels in their drinks by avoiding sugar. Consequently, the sweetener manufacturers tend to target the large scale consumers as opposed to the retail buyers.
References
Cargill Inc. 2012, The scoop on Truviaâ„¢ natural sweetener. Web.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand 2010, Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, Amendment 91, Canberra.
Global Industry Analysts 2011, Artificial Sweeteners: A Global Strategic Business Report. Web.
Kroger, M, Meister, K & Kava, R 2006, ‘Low-calorie Sweeteners and Other Sugar Substitutes: A Review of the Safety Issues’, Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, vol. 5, pp. 35-47.
O’Brien-Nabors, L 2001, Alternative Sweeteners, Marcel Dekker, New York.