Freshens Recreates Its 25-Year Old Frozen Yogurt Recipe With Truvia® Brand

MINNEAPOLIS, June 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Truvia® brand and Freshens, the largest frozen yogurt and smoothie company in the U.S., have collaborated to create a new frozen yogurt base formula sweetened with Truvia® rebiana that is both fat-free and lower in calories compared to the original formula. The latest Truvia® rebiana sweetened formulation marks a new milestone for the company, as it replaces Freshens' 25-year-old original recipe in all menu offerings available to consumers nationwide.

"We challenged the Truvia® brand to create an alternative base for yogurt and smoothies that would be identical or better than our current formulation with 25 percent fewer calories," said Ed Redmond, Senior Vice President at Freshens Quality Brands. "What they came back with exceeds our expectations so much that all original base mixes will change over to the naturally-sweetened base with Truvia® rebiana."

"The applications team at Cargill brings unparalleled knowledge and know-how to change a recipe to reduce calories and sugars while maintaining its taste and quality," said Simon Almaer, product line director, Truvia® ingredient for Cargill Health & Nutrition. "The introduction of Freshens' new product line is another example of the innovative solutions the Truvia® brand helps food and beverage companies develop."

Freshens has always used natural yogurt ingredients with live and active probiotic cultures and is the only retail concept that fortifies each smoothie mix with 100 percent of vitamins A, C, D, E and 25 percent calcium, while Freshens original frozen yogurt base is sweetened with cane sugar. The brand will launch its new Truvia®-based products with a related messaging campaign to communicate the dedication to natural ingredients, while highlighting the better-for-you nutritional changes to their loyal customer base, which primarily consists of 18-24 year-olds living on college campuses.

"Our consumers want frozen yogurt and smoothie offerings with fewer sugar carbohydrates," said Redmond. "We're eager to post the new formulation's calorie count on our menu boards and to discuss how the Truvia® brand has helped us reposition our product to appeal to more health-conscious consumers. Thanks to Truvia® brand, we're now lower in calories and better tasting than other retail frozen yogurt brands."

Just over two years on the market, the Truvia® brand continues to set the trend in the sugar substitute category. As the number two sugar substitute, Truvia® natural sweetener has achieved a 12.7 percent share of U.S. retail sales of the sugar substitutes category, surpassing Merisant's Equal® (aspartame) for the past 17 months and Sweet'N Low for the past 12 weeks. (Source: ACNielsen Food/Drug/Mass+Wal-Mart, 4 weeks ending 4/16/11.)

About Freshens

Freshens is the largest yogurt and smoothie company in the country and has been in operation for over 25 years.  With 1,000 locations, including 45 stores in 27 airports and 350 college and universities, Freshens operates under a license agreement, without franchise, royalty or marketing fees. Freshens is a privately held corporation headquartered in Atlanta, and was founded in 1985 as Freshens Premium Yogurt. Freshens was the first to introduce fat free no sugar added yogurt in 1989 and vitamin fortified, all natural smoothies in 2009. By adapting to industry trends and ever-changing customer needs, Freshens is poised for continued growth. For more information, go to www.freshens.com or like us at www.facebook.com/Freshens.

About Truvia® natural sweetener tabletop and ingredient
The Truvia® brand business is comprised of both consumer products - Truvia® natural sweetener and the ingredient – Truvia® rebiana. Truvia® natural sweetener is a great tasting, natural, zero-calorie tabletop sweetener made with rebiana, derived from the best tasting part of the stevia leaf. Truvia® rebiana is an ingredient used to sweeten foods and beverages. For more information, visit truvia.com.

The Truvia® brand incorporates Cargill standards for food safety, quality assurance and global agronomy expertise. Cargill is the only company in the stevia sweetener market managing from field to the consumer table, and is responsible for opening the category of zero-calorie natural sweetness in 2008.

About Cargill
Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services. Founded in 1865, the privately held company employs 131,000 people in 66 countries. Cargill helps customers succeed through collaboration and innovation, and is committed to applying its global knowledge and experience to help meet economic, environmental and social challenges wherever it does business. For more information, visit cargill.com.

SOURCE Truvia