VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 21, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GLG Life Tech Corporation (TSX:GLG) ("GLG" or the "Company"), a global leader in the agricultural and commercial development of high quality natural sweeteners, announces that it has submitted a Generally Recognized as Safe ("GRAS") notification with the United States Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") for its high-purity Rebaudioside C stevia extract product.
This notification represents many months of work to develop the product and all required documentation under the FDA-administered GRAS process to demonstrate that GLG's Rebaudioside C extract meets the FDA's criteria for safety. This included in-depth consultation with GRAS Associates, LLC, who convened an independent panel of scientists to spearhead this safety assessment.
GLG believes that it is the first company to submit GRAS notification to the FDA for Rebaudioside C. Consistent with its role as a leader in the sweetener industry, GLG continues to be at the forefront of stevia-related GRAS certifications. It has the largest number of stevia products certified under the GRAS process including high-purity Rebaudioside A and other Rebaudioside A products, high-purity stevioside, high-purity Rebaudioside M and now high-purity Rebaudioside C. Additionally, GRAS work is currently underway for high-purity Rebaudioside D.
Beyond stevia, the company has also submitted a GRAS application for luo han guo extracts of various purities, currently pending FDA review. These many submissions and certifications demonstrate GLG's commitment to ensuring that its full complement of naturally sourced sweetener products is compliant with the FDA GRAS program. GLG's stevia and luo han guo sweetener products will always be naturally sourced.
About GLG Life Tech Corporation
GLG Life Tech Corporation is a global leader in the supply of high-purity stevia extracts, an all-natural zero-calorie sweetener used in food and beverages. GLG's vertically integrated operations cover each step in the stevia supply chain including Non-GMO stevia seed breeding, natural propagation, stevia leaf growth and harvest, proprietary extraction and refining, marketing and distribution of the finished product. GLG is similarly positioning itself, through parallel vertically integrated luo han guo operations, to be a leader in the supply of high-purity luo han guo extracts. Additionally, to further meet the varied needs of the food and beverage industry, GLG has launched its Naturals+ product line, enabling it to supply a host of complementary ingredients reliably sourced through its R8 supplier network in China. For further information, please visit www.glglifetech.com.
Forward-looking statements: This press release may contain certain information that may constitute "forward-looking statements" and "forward looking information" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements evaluating the market, statements regarding the potential demand for stevia and other products and general economic conditions and discussions of future-oriented costs and expenditures. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or words and phrases that state or indicate that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved.
While the Company has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations about future events, the statements are not guarantees of the Company's future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include amongst others the effects of general economic conditions, consumer demand for our products and new orders from our customers and distributors, changing foreign exchange rates and actions by government authorities, uncertainties associated with legal proceedings and negotiations, industry supply levels, competitive pricing pressures and misjudgments in the course of preparing forward-looking statements. Specific reference is made to the risks set forth under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form for the financial year ended December 31, 2013. In light of these factors, the forward-looking events discussed in this press release might not occur.
Further, although the Company has attempted to identify factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
As there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.