Amai Proteins wins Singapore approval for sweet protein sweelin

Singapore has become the latest proof point for Amai Proteins’ sweelin, giving the Rehovot, Israel company a second major regulatory win for a sweet protein it says can help slash sugar in mainstream foods and drinks. The approval matters because it moves sweelin out of the novelty lane and into the harder business of commercial credibility, where food and beverage companies need more than science before they sign up.

Amai describes sweelin as a monellin-based sweet protein inspired by the serendipity berry and produced through precision fermentation. The company says it is about 3,000 times sweeter than sugar weight-for-weight and can support up to 70% sugar reduction in applications ranging from beverages and chocolate to condiments, gummies and chewing gum. That kind of performance puts sweet proteins in a different category from protein bars or shakes: this is protein as a functional sweetening system, not just a nutrition ingredient.

The Singapore decision followed Amai’s U.S. Food and Drug Administration GRAS no-objection letter on February 9, 2026. For Amai, the U.S. nod was the bigger validation of safety and regulatory strategy; Singapore may be the more strategic commercial marker. The Singapore Food Agency has positioned itself as an early-regulatory market for novel foods, including precision-fermentation ingredients, and its approval process requires scientific evidence on toxicity, allergenicity, production methods and dietary exposure. That makes Singapore especially useful as a launchpad for companies trying to expand across Asia-Pacific.

Amai has already published a safety evaluation in the Journal of Applied Toxicology, which reported no genotoxic or mutagenic effects in standard in vitro assays and no systemic toxicity in a 90-day rodent dietary study. The company says the GRAS notice for sweelin was submitted nine months before the FDA response, underscoring how long these approvals can take even for ingredients with promising data packages.

The broader signal is that regulatory momentum is now doing a lot of the adoption work. Amir Guttman, Amai’s chief executive, has said the FDA milestone validated the company’s regulatory strategy and would help commercialization discussions with partners. Singapore should strengthen that pitch further, especially in a market where brands are chasing sugar reduction, simpler labels and fewer compromises on taste. Oobli’s recent FDA progress suggests this is no longer a one-company story. Sweet proteins are starting to look like a real category, and the regulators are helping define how fast it can scale.