Health Canada’s Food Directorate has concluded a premarket safety and
efficacy assessment of monk fruit (Siraitia
grosvenorii) extract in response to a food additive submission requesting permission
to use the extract in tabletop sweeteners. According to the consultation
document released by Health Canada, it assessed “toxicological,
chemical, microbiological, nutritional, and technical aspects of the proposal,”
and has authorized the extract for use under outlined conditions.1
Monk fruit, which is endemic to Asia
and a member of the melon family, contains sweetening compounds called
mogrosides. The monk fruit extract assessed is prepared by way of “water extraction,
filtration, and selective concentration of the sweetening components.”1
Mogroside V, the main sweetening compound present in monk fruit extract, is
300-400 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar).1
Although monk fruit extract is not an
approved food additive in the European Union, Australia, or New Zealand, the US
Food and Drug Administration has allowed two Generally Recognized as Safe
(GRAS) determinations in the United States for monk fruit extract with
mogroside V content of 25 percent, 45 percent, or 55 percent.1 In
2010, New Zealand-based BioVittoria’s GRAS determination was approved; the
company partners with Tate & Lyle PLC to supply monk fruit extract to a
Johnson & Johnson subsidiary.2 In 2011, GRAS determination was
accepted for Guilin LAYN Natural Ingredients Corporation’s monk fruit extract
line, marketed by LAYN USA as Go-Luo®.3 Safety studies
examined by Health Canada, including those investigating the extract’s effects
in diabetic and non-diabetic humans, motivated Health Canada’s decision add it
to its List of Approved Sweeteners.
—Ash
Lindstrom
1. Health
Canada. Consultation Document on Health
Canada’s Proposal to Enable the Use of a New Food Additive,
Monk Fruit Extract (Luo Han Guo Extract), as a Sweetener in Table-Top
Sweeteners [release]. Ottowa, Ontario: Health Canada; 2013. Available at:
www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/alt_formats/pdf/consult/2013-nop-adp-monk-fruit-moines/document-consultation-eng.pdf.
2. Anthony M, Fusaro D. Understanding monk fruit: the next generation
natural sweetener. Food Processing. Available at: www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2012/understanding-monk-fruit.html.
Accessed April 5, 2013.
3. LAYN USA, Inc. Health Canada’s Food Directorate Approves Monk Fruit
for Use in Canada [release]. Newport Beach, CA: LAYN USA, Inc; 2013. Available
at:
www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/health-canadas-food-directorate-approves-monk-fruit-sweeteners-for-use-in-canada-199334971.html.
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