Stevita Powder Sweetener, Orange, 2.8 Ounce

With the banning of existing artificial sweeteners in Japan in the early 70's, the Japanese food industry started importing stevia leaves from Brazil. The leaves, using an extraction process, were turned into a crystal form to be used as an intensive sweetener. In the early 80's a group of farmers in the state of Parana, Brazil, joined together and formed a cooperative to grow and export stevia leaves to Japan. In the mid 80's with the participation of local investors, it turned into an enterprise with the objective to farm, harvest the Stevia plant, extract the crystals from the leaves and export the extract to Japan. In 1987, the extraction factory was completed and in 1988 the Stevita Stevia brand was introduced in the Brazilian market as a table top sweetener.