20 June 2007 - McNeil Nutritionals LLC' Splenda will celebrate its first anniversary of presence in the French market this September. The sweetener maker has high hopes for its brand in France for the near future.
French newspaper ‘La Tribune’ reported yesterday that McNeil Nutritionals is aiming to lead the French market for sweeteners by late 2009 and overtake the current market leader Merisant and its popular Canderel brand in the process.
Cedric Giroud, sales director for McNeil Nutritionals France, claims that Splenda’s future success in France lies on the firm’s use of sucralose in the Splenda, which has a similar taste to sugar and can be heated up to 120°C, which allows the sweetener to be used in home cooking. Rival companies use aspartame, saccharin or acesulfame potassium, adds Giroud.
Canderel currently leads the French market with a 67% share. In second position comes Hermesetas (Hermes Sweeteners Ltd) with 4.5%. Splenda is in third place with 3%, said the paper.
By the end of the year, McNeil Nutritionals’s believes Splenda will become the second best selling brand in France with an 8% share. The sweetener producer expects that leadership will be secured in late 2009.
In May, FLEXNEWS reported that Merisant France SAS won its case at the Commercial Court of Paris against subsidiaries of McNeil Nutritionals LLC.
The court awarded Merisant 40,000 euro in damages and ordered McNeil Nutritionals to amend all advertising and promotions that contain the following claims - "Because it comes from sugar, sucralose tastes like sugar" and "With sucralose: Comes from sugar and tastes like sugar" - which were seen to violate French consumer protection laws.