The main sweetening ingredient in merisant's leading tabletop brands was discovered in 1965 by Dr. James Schlatter. Schlatter was a scientist at searle who was doing research with amino acids. Once when licking his finger to pick up a piece of paper, he tasted a sweet, attractive flavor. he had inadvertently discovered an ingredient that would revolutionize the category of "sweetener"
The ingredi
ent is 180 to 200 times sweeter than sugar and has virtually no calories. The newly discovered sweetening ingredient underwent many years of testing before being approved for consumer use for the first time in 1979 in France , where the product was marketed as "Canderel" .Canderel is a combination of the words "candy" and "airelle", the French word for wild cherry. Marketed only in the pharmaceutical channel at that time, Canderel took the form of a white tablet, and consumer advertising of the product was not permitted. Soon the product gained recognition through the support of pharmacists and doctors who lauded the health benefits opf the low-calorie sweetener. Canderel's superior taste resulted in significant market share for the product, which is still maintained today. By the early 1980's Canderel was being marketed in much of world includes Pakistan. In Pakistan Canderel is leading brand of sweetener market and has been launched in 1988, having 24 years of successful experience, available in all networks of Pakistan and having more than 90% of total sweetener market.
