The application for this use was submitted in January last year and was approved last week.
Permitting steviol glycosides in mustard will make it possible to widen the assortment of this product by means of a product containing a sweetener different than those applied hitherto and having slightly other flavour properties,” reads the amended regulation.
Markus Weck, food law expert at Culinaria Europe, the trade group which represents the interests of soup and condiment manufacturers told FoodNavigator: “Mustard manufacturers are happy to have another option for product development. Even though mustard does not contribute much to the overall sugar intake - the average portion size for mustard is 10 g, a teaspoon - the producers are aware of the Roadmap for Action on Food Product Improvement and the discussion on added sugars.”
However, given stevia's taste issues, Radermacher said that he did not expect stevia to be widely used in premium positioned products initially but rather in small runs to first test consumer acceptance.
Listed as E 960 in EuropE, steviol glycosides extracted from the leaves of the Stevia rebaudiana plant first got the stamp of approval back in 2010 when the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) established an acceptable daily intake of 4 mg per kilo body weight per day.
Given that the quantities of stevia used in mustard are small and that the condiment is generally consumed in small quantities, there were no safety concerns to flag meaning the Commission was able to rubberstamp its use in mustard without seeking a further safety opinion from EFSA.
The regulation will come into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Journal of the European Union.
According to a paper by researchers from the University of Minnesota and Wisconsin, mustard was one of the first crops to be domesticated. Ancient Greeks and Romans crushed the seeds to make pastes and powders to flavour food, but it wasn’t until the 1300s that the name mustard was coined. It comes from the Latin word for unfermented grape juice – mustum – which was mixed with ground mustard seeds.
In Europe, two mustards enjoy protected PGI status: the French moutarde de Bourgogne and German Düsseldorfer Senf.