Purchasers guide to BioVittoria’s Fruit-Sweetness™, monk fruit concentrate

 Known as; 

Latin name: Siraitia grosvenorii, Momordica grosvenorii

Common name: Monk fruit, luo han guo, lohan kuo, rakanka (Japan) 

What is monk fruit?  

       Monk fruit is grown predominantly in the southern mountains of the Guangxi Province, Southern China. It is a perennial vine in the Cucurbitaceae (cucumber or melon) family. Monk fruit is sold and used both inside and outside the People's Republic of China as a sweetener and flavour ingredient for foods and beverages, as well as for use in traditional Chinese medicine. The fruit derives its intense sweetness from naturally occuring sweet consituents in the fruit called mogrosides. Monk fruit has been cultivated and consumed in China for hundreds of years. 

Fruit-Sweetness™,  BioVittoria’s monk fruit concentrate is a proprietary ingredient.  

·    Fruit-Sweetness™ is derived from fruit cultivated using BioVittoria’s patented plant varieties .

·       BioVittoria  has patented the processing method for Fruit-Sweetness™.

·       BioVittoria has patented the Fruit-Sweetness™ product itself.  

Important issues to understand when purchasing a monk fruit product: 

Some technical details relating to the monk fruit product follow below:

Fruit-Sweetness™ is a truly natural, zero calorie, high intensity sweetener.

Taste: Taste is the key characteristic for utilizing monk fruit product in an application.  Before purchasing any monk fruit product it is imperative to taste the “commercial” product, and not a “bench top” sample to ensure the correct taste and formula. 

Sweetness: Monk fruit’s sweetness comes from an intensely sweet compound called Mogroside V which occurs naturally in the fruit. Mogroside V is the standard that BioVittoria uses for characterising Fruit-Sweetness™. It has been scientifically substantiated that sweetness intensity in monk fruit extracts is directly proportional to Mogroside V content, and Mogroside V is the only mogroside for which there is a readily available analytical standard. BioVittoria uses a very accurate HPLC protocol for testing which has been validated against a number of external laboratories. Total Mogroside values are misleading as the UV-VIS testing protocol used significantly inflates the total mogrosides figure due to overlapping interference from other compounds. Also, some of the mogrosides are not sweet at all. Mogroside V is therefore the only useful measure. 

The higher the Mogroside V the sweeter the material, and the less you will need to use. Fruit-Sweetness™, because of these proprietary attributes, is a sweeter, cleaner tasting, and purer ingredient than its competition. These characteristics allow Fruit-Sweetness™, to be utilized in more applications, and because of the purity, at a lower cost. 

Supply:

BioVittoria controls the entire supply chain from seedling through to finished product. Through our relations with local and regional governments and the growers themselves, we have strict control of the quality and quantity of our raw material. Below are key factors in this control:

• We produce our own seedlings from our patented plant varieties using proprietary non-GMO tissue culturing methods. These plant varieties are valuable because they are virus and drought resistant, grow well, have high fruit yield, and produce high Mogroside V content.
   
• BioVittoria has established the Fruit-Sweetness™ Monk Fruit Association in cooperation with the Chinese government, regional universities, and growers from four different regions in the most productive monk fruit growing areas of China. This cooperation contributes to high quality training for growers, supports continued research, enables monitoring of the cultivation process, fosters good community involvement, and ensures a quality product.This Association is a key part of the agronomic model which supports a sustainable scaling up of fruit production.
   
• We have constructed a state of the art GMP processing facility using our proprietary technology which will has an initial processing capacity of up to 60 tonnes of finished product per year, and is scalable within this facility to over 250 tonnes per year.  
   
• Our vertically integrated production chain provides certainty of supply.

Product Control: 

BioVittoria takes the following steps to ensure our product is at all times carefully monitored and controlled during all aspects of processing. 

·     BioVittoria controls the production and cultivation of Fruit-Sweetness™, from farm through to final packaging.

·      Fruit-Sweetness™ is produced from BioVittoria’s patented plant varieties which produce high quality fresh fruit, and are grown by our contracted farmers.

·  BioVittoria’s farmers adhere to strict Standard Operating Procedures for cultivation and harvesting.

·     We have an extensive team of farm advisers working with our farmers to ensure on best practice and our Standard Operating Procedures are followed.

·      Every batch of Fruit-Sweetness™ goes through a rigourous QA process.

·     Our production process uses only FDA approved processing aids.

·      We are Kosher and Halal certified .

Freedom to Operate:  

BioVittoria's monk fruit products are supplied under licence obtained from Proctor and Gamble.

Regulatory: 

Fruit-Sweetness™ is the only monk fruit product that is GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) Notified as a sweetener and as a flavour modifier. In order to achieve GRAS Notified status, a supplier must be able to provide a signed GRAS declaration from an expert panel relating specifically to the material which the GRAS claim relates to, and a “no objections” letter from FDA. GRAS findings are only applicable to the material considered by the panel, and only for the uses mentioned. A GRAS finding for a high mogroside V content monk fruit concentrate will not for example apply to a low mogroside V content powder, unless the expert panel specifically addresses this. Be sure the supplier has the expert panel declaration for the exact material you are considering using. GRAS status is essential if an ingredient is to be used in foods and beverages in the US.

Expertise: 

Our team includes some of China’s most respected and knowledgeable authorities in the growing of monk fruit. Mr. Lan Fusheng is CEO and President of BioVittoria's Chinese subsidiary BioGFS and is China’s recognised expert in monk fruit cultivation. Dr. Garth Smith, BioVittoria’s co-founder, recently received from the Chinese Government the “Fellowship” award, the highest award given in China to foreign experts for his work in China. 

Other Initiatives: 

BioVittoria is creating the Fruit-Sweetness™ Foundation which will set aside a percentage of our fruit purchases each year to fund projects in support of the indigenous communities that grow for us.  

Summary: 

With Fruit-Sweetness™ BioVittoria offers its customers: 

• The highest purity, best tasting, best value monk fruit product available
• Regulatory compliance
• Freedom to operate
• Robust supply chain capability.
• Highest quality standards and QC/QA processes.

Product Characteristics

Nature: Natural rather than artificial sweetener

Appearance:  Very fine and uniform powder, creamy white in color 

Taste:  Pure and clean sweet taste

Sweetness: Approximately 150  times as sweet as table sugar [sucrose] 

Solubility:  100% soluble in water 

Heat Stability:   125 ° Celsius, no effect 

Moisture:  < 5.0% by analysis

PH:  3.4 - 5.0  

Shelf Life:  Three years at room temperature  

Safety Data: No known adverse reactions, traditional food, test results available  

FDA Status: GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) as a sweetener and flavor modifier  

Applications: Non nutritive sweetener and flavor enhancer. Use in flavors, foods, beverages, gums, baked goods, dietary supplements, powdered drinks, nutritional bars, and chocolates, etc. masks “off” tastes 

Basic nutritional benefits with references: Zero-calorie, non-diabetogenic, non-cariogenic, non-nutritive. No known allergenic responses.  

Product Formats: Pure 80 mesh powder available

Certified Kosher product.

Features and Benefits

The following series of photographs shows the development of monk fruit plants from the seedling stage, through fruiting, harvesting, and finally the processing of the fruit, resulting in the production of Fruit-Sweetness™ .

Tissue cultured monk fruit plants selected from proprietary mother plants. These superior monk fruit seedlings are protected by Plant Variety Rights owned by our subsidiary company in China.	Monk fruit seedlings transplanted from tissue culture flasks prior to being planted in the field.
A typical monk fruit orchard growing our proprietary selected plants near PuLu township in northen Guangxi Province, China.	Monk fruit plants with flowers and developing fruit in early spring. Typically all flowers are hand pollinated. Mature monk fruit just prior to harvest in late autumn. (below)
Harvested monk fruit  in late autumn.	Cross section of monk fruit showing the white flesh and large seeds which are a feature of this plant. Mogroside is found in the skin and flesh of the fruit.
The registered trademark of our monk fruit product.