Cargill rolling out natural no-calorie sweetener

By Martinne Geller

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Agribusiness giant Cargill CARG.UL is starting to roll out Truvia, its natural, no-calorie sweetener on Wednesday, and expects the product to be on grocery shelves across the U.S. sometime this fall.

Truvia is made from certain compounds in the leaves of stevia, a shrub native to Paraguay, and will provide a natural alternative to artificial sweeteners including Sweet 'N Low, Equal and Splenda.

Truvia is going on sale first at a handful of D'Agostino supermarkets in Manhattan, and will eventually be sold at grocery stores and big box retailers across the country, said Steve Snyder, vice president and business director of Cargill's Truvia business.

Snyder declined to name specific retailers, but said it will be "widely available" in stores and from a company website.

A box of 40 green and white packets of Truvia will have a suggested retail price of $3.99 (2 pounds), which Snyder said is a little more expensive than older, artificial sweeteners, such as saccharin, aspartame and sucralose, which are sold under the respective brand names of Sweet'N Low, NutraSweet and Equal, and Splenda, which is made by Tate & Lyle Plc (TATE.L).

Sweet'N Low is manufactured by Brooklyn, New York-based Cumberland Packing Corp while Chicago-based Merisant owns Equal. The NutraSweet Co is owned by Boston-based private equity firm J.W. Childs Associates.

Truvia also will be used as a sweetener in beverages and foods -- such as yogurts, cereals and snack bars -- in early 2009, Snyder said.

Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) co-developed the product with Cargill and has exclusive rights to use Truvia in beverages. Rivals including PepsiCo Inc (PEP.N) and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc (DPS.N) are working on their own versions of natural, no-calorie sweeteners.