Waikato based company BioVittoria, the world’s largest processor of chinese monk fruit, has landed a sweet deal with Tate and Lyle, one of the biggest multinational sugar conglomerates.

Hamilton-based BioVittoria is a product development company, which focuses on commercialising plant-derived, calorie-free additives for various foods and beverages.

BioVittoria Chief Executive David Thorrold says the company has been working on a natural-sweetener for the past seven years and has signed a five-year strategic partnership with British sugar giant.

“They [Tate and Lyle] will exclusively distribute our monk fruit sweetener into those markets where there is regulatory approval. So initially that will be the US and some Asian markets and over that time period we are certainly expecting to be launching into other markets as well.

“Tate and Lyle will be handling the sales and marketing distribution in those markets as the regulatory approvals are gained.”

The sweetener is produced from monk fruit, native to China. Its pulp is concentrated into a natural additive up to 300 times sweeter than sugar and can be used in a range of consumer goods.

David Thorrold saysTate and Lyle believes the New Zealand based product called “Purefruit”, could one day be included in international products such as Nestle, Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

“The ingredient is very versatile, it works very well in dairy applications like flavoured milk, yoghurt, it's very good in baking as well so I think you'll see it really across the board in confectionary, baking, dairy products, beveragesn and cereals.

“So it's not so much a case of it works better in some parts than others it really, works well across the board.”