Stevita history thru past decades...

1986 -   Stevia farmers cooperative is formed in Maringa, Brazil, to gather stevia leaves produced by small   stevia leaves farmers  which were  primarily  harvested from wild fields. These leaves were primarily exported to Japan. The Japanese food industry had been using the stevia as a sweetener since the early 1070;s.

1987 - Cooperative members and investors  form Inga Stevia Industrial with the purpose of domesticating the stevia plant and grow it on controlled farms. The same year  Inga Stevia Industrial  started the  construction of an extraction factory that would use locally developed  technology to extract the sweet crystals from the leaves of the stevia plant.

1988 - The Stevita brand was introduced in the Brazilian market, packaged in individual sachets, as a table top sweetener. During the same year, Oscar Rodes, one of the representatives of Inga Industrial introduced the  Stevita crystals into the US market as a GRAS  ( generally regard as safe) food  substance because of  the proven record of safe human consumption over centuries in South America.  FDA denied approval of the petition  and Stevita had to be removed from the market.

1990 - Inga Stevia Industrial  changes its name to Steviafarma S.A.

1994 - US Congress passes the  DSHEA act, thus allowing stevia to be  sold in the country but only as "dietary supplement".

1995 - Oscar Rodes started selling Stevita's pure crystals ( Steviol-glycosides ) to the food industry in the USA.

 1996 - Stevita Co. Inc. is formed in the USA and makes the first importation of  Stevita products  labeled as dietary supplement to be sold directly to  local consumers. The first shipment is confiscated by FDA because  the appearance of the word "sweet" on the label.

1997 -  Various inspections  by FDA agents during the year forced Stevita co. to remove from advertising material, labels, web pages, any and all content that referred to Stevia as been sweet.

1998 -During one of the FDA inspections in the year, Stevita Co. was  ordered to destroy ( burn) books about stevia  that the company was selling along with the stevia products. Their argument was that information in the books referred to stevia as been sweet and used as a sweetener, thus, rendering the stevia products contaminated because stevia  could be used only as a dietary supplement and not as a sweetener. Stevita was shut down over a period of 4 months as a result of this dispute.

1999 - 2008 - The possibility of been closed down because of the ever FDA's close vigilance over Stevita's marketing practices ( never could say or print the word "sweet") persisted throughout this period what impaired  the company's expansion in the market.

2009 - With the approval of the Steviol-Glycosides ( 95% ) and Rebaudioside 97% by the FDA, Stevita has reformulated its line of products  to comply with the new regulations and be able to  market Stevita as sweeteners.

  As conscientious stewards of the environment, we contribute  to reforestation projects  of native trees in Brazil.