Olga Liash of DSM describes an innovative approach to the production of low caloric sweeteners.

In the last six months society has been shaken by COVID‐19, leaving many to wonder about its impact and consequences. Some say it has triggered positive temporary changes in climate: decreasing carbon emissions, improving air and water quality and rebounding wildlife. Yet despite these encouraging side effects, scientists are sounding the alarm more than ever on the impending environmental crisis caused by climate change, with global warming and deforestation as the two main threats. Just in July this year, information appeared on the rapid loss of forests due to harvesting^{[1, 2]}, which is often blamed on the food industry and agriculture that humanity so heavily relies on^{[3, 4]}.

Many intergovernmental organisations saw this coming, however, and started to take action years ago to try to mitigate the ecological crisis that was an inevitable outcome of the agricultural impact on land. This issue first got global attention in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio, following the formation of the UN Forum on Forests (UFF), with six major goals intended to support earlier defined Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the Paris Agreement. Goal number six is particularly important to the corporate sector, calling for enhanced cooperation, coordination, coherence and synergies across all sectors involved.

To guide the corporate sector on more responsible operation, the United Nations in 2015 issued 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Goal number 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production – was particularly aimed at the food industry. By that time, it was clear that the world needed a sustainable and efficient food production approach that would enable qualitative change in value chains, new food production technologies and improved use of resources, among others. Many big internationals quickly picked up the initiative by incorporating the corresponding goals into their mission statements and annual reports.

Within the food and beverage industry, this new trend towards sustainable sourcing led to the development of innovative solutions, ranging from regenerative agriculture to ‘new natural’ – meat reproduction by cell growth. While this is encouraging progress, the industry faced another challenge: to satisfy the increasingly demanding consumer without compromising on the taste of the final product. One of the leading Dutch‐origin companies in life sciences – DSM – has been advocating and walking the path of sustainable production for years; in fact, the company assesses every new product on its Eco+ or People+ impact. One of the latest innovative solutions it has brought to the market is EVERSWEET™ – the new generation of sweeteners, produced with respect to nature. The new sweetener can satisfy both the rising need for sustainable ingredients and the consumer need for healthy and tasty products.

The product is in essence a noncaloric sweetener containing the best tasting molecule of the Stevia leaf called Rebaudioside‐M (Reb‐M). As a non‐caloric sweetener with a taste profile very close to sugar's and a sweetness quality, Reb‐M would satisfy the most demanding taste buds. But it presents a serious environmental challenge: it is contained in only <0.01% of the Stevia leaf, which makes it very expensive and extremely unsustainable to produce.

To solve this puzzle, DSM partnered with Cargill and tapped into the core capability – biotechnology – and developed an innovative method of production, replicating the same molecule by employing the age‐ old process of fermentation and producing Reb‐M at high scale in a sustainable way. With this method, the same amount of Reb‐M will use significantly less land. This will reduce impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity, while a reduction in fertiliser use and other agricultural activities will also substantially reduce carbon footprint. With the innovative EVERSWEET, DSM has managed to solve the issue of creating tasty ingredients in a sustainable way.

The struggle to feed a growing population and avert ecological disaster at the same time remains a substantial challenge for the food and beverage companies. Yet, progress is in reach as more and more companies are joining the vital movement of sustainable sourcing, eager to make their contribution to a brighter future for people and the planet.

DSM的Olga Liash描述了一种生产低热量甜味剂的创新方法。

在过去的六个月中，COVID-19震惊了整个社会，让许多人对它的影响和后果感到疑惑。有人说，这已触发了气候方面的积极暂时变化：减少碳排放，改善空气和水质以及反弹野生生物。尽管存在这些令人鼓舞的副作用，但科学家们比以往任何时候都更加警惕气候变化带来的迫在眉睫的环境危机，全球变暖和森林砍伐是两个主要威胁。就在今年7月，有关采伐造成森林迅速流失的信息出现了^[1，2]，这通常归咎于人类高度依赖的粮食工业和农业^[3，4]。

但是，许多政府间组织看到了这种情况的到来，并于几年前开始采取行动，试图减轻生态危机，这是农业对土地的影响的必然结果。联合国森林论坛（UFF）成立后，这个问题在1992年里约热内卢地球峰会上首次引起全球关注，其六个主要目标旨在支持更早定义的《爱知生物多样性目标》和《巴黎协定》。目标六对公司部门特别重要，要求在所有相关部门之间加强合作，协调，一致性和协同增效。

为了指导公司部门开展更负责任的运营，联合国于2015年发布了17项可持续发展目标。目标编号12 –负责任的消费和生产–特别针对食品行业。到那时，很明显，世界需要一种可持续和高效的粮食生产方法，以实现价值链的质变，新的粮食生产技术和改善的资源利用等。许多大型国际公司通过将相应的目标纳入其任务说明和年度报告中，迅速采取了主动行动。

在食品和饮料行业中，这种可持续采购的新趋势导致了创新解决方案的开发，从再生农业到“新自然”（通过细胞生长实现肉的繁殖）。尽管这是令人鼓舞的进步，但该行业面临另一个挑战：在不影响最终产品的口味的情况下满足日益增长的消费者需求。生命科学领域的荷兰领先公司之一– DSM –多年来一直倡导并走可持续生产的道路。实际上，公司会评估每种新产品对Eco +或People +的影响。它带给市场的最新创新解决方案之一是EVERSWEET™–新一代的甜味剂，是针对自然产生的。

该产品实质上是一种非热量甜味剂，包含甜叶菊叶中味道最好的Rebaudioside-M（Reb-M）分子。作为一种无热量的甜味剂，它的口感与糖非常接近并且具有甜味，Reb-M可以满足最苛刻的味蕾。但是它带来了严峻的环境挑战：甜菊叶中只有<0.01％含有它，这使其非常昂贵且生产极其不可持续。

为了解决这个难题，帝斯曼与嘉吉合作，利用其核心能力-生物技术-开发了一种创新的生产方法，通过使用古老的发酵工艺复制同一分子，并以可持续的方式大规模生产Reb-M方式。使用这种方法，相同量的Reb‐M将使用更少的土地。这将减少对生态系统和生物多样性的影响，同时减少肥料的使用和其他农业活动也将大大减少碳足迹。通过创新的EVERSWEET，帝斯曼成功地解决了以可持续方式生产美味原料的问题。

同时满足不断增长的人口和避免生态灾难的斗争仍然是食品和饮料公司面临的重大挑战。但是，随着越来越多的公司加入可持续采购的至关重要的运动，并渴望为人类和地球的美好未来做出贡献，进展正在取得进展。