With FDA approval for the use of Stevia in food products, it looks like Coca-Cola may be first out the gate with the release of products sweetened with a Stevia based sweetener. They have announced that Sprite Green, a reduced-calorie beverage made with TRUVIA natural sweetener, will debut this December in New York and Chicago, along with Odwalla Mojito Mambo and Odwalla Pomegranate Strawberry natural juice drinks, which will debut nationally.

Sprite Green will come in distinctive green 8.5-ounce aluminum bottles, and will provide 50 calories per 8.5-ounce serving and contain 5% lemon juice.

The Odwalla beverages are sweetened with a combination of TRUVIA, organic evaporated cane juice and fruit juices. Each has 50 calories per 8 ounce serving (but they come in 15.2 ounce bottles) and are fortified with 50% of the Daily Value of antioxidant vitamins C and E (like all Odwalla products, Mojito Mambo and Pomegranate Strawberry do not contain any artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners, or preservatives).

Developed jointly by Cargill and The Coca-Cola Company, TRUVIA natural sweetener is a great-tasting, zero-calorie natural sweetener using rebiana, which comes from the best-tasting part of the stevia leaf. Harvested at the peak of sweetness, stevia leaves are dried and steeped in water, much like tea. This extract is then further refined and purified. The finished product is the pure, natural sweetness of rebiana [Coca Cola Press Release]