SIG and Oobli have formed a strategic partnership to showcase integrated, reduced-sugar beverage concepts to market. By combining Oobli’s sweet protein technology with SIG’s advanced aseptic filling expertise and diverse packaging options, the collaboration aims to deliver long shelf-life beverages that taste delicious and don’t require refrigeration.

What this collaboration brings:

• Proven combined capability: Oobli’s sweet protein technology enables significant sugar reduction without compromising taste, using plant-based proteins to deliver nutrition labels that align with consumer demand for healthier options.
• Shelf-stable, preservative-free solutions: SIG’s aseptic packaging allows long shelf life at ambient temperatures, supporting broad distribution and reduced supply-chain constraints without the need for refrigeration.
• Flexible formats and rapid development: SIG’s filling capabilities accommodate multiple packaging formats and volumes, backed by global innovation centers that provide access to equipment, expertise, and testing resources for product development.

Context and ecosystem

The partnership was formed at MISTA, the San Francisco–based global food innovation platform that connects companies across food, ingredients, and technology to address industry challenges. Both SIG and Oobli participate as active MISTA members, reinforcing their commitment to collaborative innovation in the beverage space.

The collaboration focuses on product concepts that demonstrate reduced sugar content, natural-protein-based sweetness, and shelf-stable formulation, while maintaining consumer appeal and brand integrity.

The partners are pursuing joint development projects, pilot runs, and consumer testing to validate performance, flavor, and shelf life across key markets.

About Oobli
Oobli is the pioneering sweet protein technology platform company focused on delivering tastier, reduced-sugar solutions across food and beverages. Sweet proteins have no glycemic impact or effect on the gut microbiome. Produced via fermentation, Oobli sweet proteins are both cost-effective as a sweetener replacement and climate friendly, saving massive amounts of land, water and carbon compared to farmed sugarcane. Through proprietary protein technologies and collaborations with leading brands, Oobli aims to redefine sweetness while supporting healthier, accessible consumer choices.

Oobli, the first and only commercial-scale sweet protein technology platform known for its healthy sugar alternatives, announced that it has received a “no questions” letter from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), confirming that brazzein-54, a sweet-tasting protein naturally occurring in the oubli fruit, is Generally Recognised as Safe (GRAS) for use as a sweetener in food and beverages. brazzein-54 joins brazzein-53 and monellin as the third protein on the Oobli platform to gain FDA GRAS status.

As a nature-identical sweet protein platform, Oobli is dedicated to providing a complete suite of plant-derived sweet proteins. Brazzein-54 further expands Oobli’s platform, offering an additional option for food and beverage partners seeking healthier, sugar-free solutions.

“Oobli is changing the future of sweetness through the use of sweet proteins as a replacement for traditional cane sugar and other alternative sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose, stevia and erythritol,” said Jason Ryder, Oobli Founder & CTO and Adjunct Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at University of California, Berkeley. “The oubli fruit sweet protein is one of several sweet proteins that is derived from fruits primarily found in West Africa and other equatorial environments. Sweet proteins are a class of proteins that deliver a sugar-like sweetness but don’t affect blood sugar, insulin, or the gut microbiome.”

Oobli is the first company to receive a “no questions” letter from the FDA for use of the oubli fruit sweet protein as a food ingredient. The company’s brand name and sweet protein platform, Oobli, was inspired by West African villagers who originally described the fruit as “so sweet it makes children forget their mother’s milk.”

“The ‘no questions’ letter from the FDA is further testament to the strong potential that sweet proteins have to disrupt our global dependence on sugar and alternative sweeteners,” said Ali Wing, CEO of Oobli. “The oubli fruit sweet protein can be safely used in a wide range of foods with support from the scientific community and the FDA. It can replace 70 % or more of sugar in products such as sodas, teas, baked goods, and more, making the opportunities to reduce our sugar consumption virtually endless.”