EMERYVILLE, CALIF. – Amyris, Inc. will launch a sugarcane-derived, zero-calorie sweetener Dec. 3 at an invitation-only tasting event in New York. An independent panel has determined the sweetener is Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS).

“We’re pleased to bring a product to market that lets people enjoy all the goodness of the sweet taste without the calories and without the bitter aftertaste we’ve all come to know from other natural and artificial sweeteners,” said John Melo, president and chief executive officer of Emeryville-based Amyris, which develops and produces ingredients for the health and wellness, beauty, and flavors and fragrances market.

Mr. Melo also spoke about the sweetener during an Aug. 6 earnings call.

“We’ve confirmed with three of the world’s leading sweetener solution companies that we have the purest and best-performing zero-calorie natural sweetener product on the market,” he said at that time. “Over the next three years we have the most supply available and lowest cost performance of any high-purity natural sweetener product and now have our supply through the end of 2020 called for by four customers that are each leaders in their respective markets. This represents over $200 million of aggregate revenue for this period and over $80 million of non-GAAP gross margin in the contract phase with these four customers.”