Knott’s Berry Farm Unveils Low-Cal Fruit Spread : Diet foods: The product is not the first low-calorie jelly but it is the first to be made of the artificial sweetener NutraSweet.

In its first major new product innovation in years, Knott’s Berry Farm officials Thursday introduced a low-calorie “fruit spread” that they say is the first nationally distributed, heat-processed product using the artificial sweetener NutraSweet.

The new jelly product, with six flavors, ranging from traditional Knott’s boysenberry to a new raspberry-cranberry combination, went on sale Thursday at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park. It will hit the grocery shelves in mid-June.

While the first jam product to use NutraSweet, it is not the first low-calorie jelly on the market. Knott’s Berry Farm Light fruit spread will square off against several low-cal competitors, including industry leader Smucker’s.

Knott’s spokeswoman Diane Greene said that the new product cannot be called a jam or jelly because it does not contain the sugar necessary to be so classified under federal food regulations. Hence, it will be marketed as a fruit spread.

“It looks like jam,” she said, “It has all the qualities of jam.”

At eight calories a teaspoon, Knott’s Light has about half the calories of regular jam. In an increasingly health-conscious age, Knott’s had studied the possibility of making a “light” version of its famous line of jams and jellies, Greene said. Company officials balked, however, because they do not believe that a low-calorie concoction could match the company’s standards for taste.

Then along came the NutraSweet brand of the artificial sweetener aspertame. Last fall, the the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved use of NutraSweet in jams and jellies. Knott’s immediately started experimenting in its kitchens until it found an acceptable formula.

“We wanted Knott’s Light to be a forerunner in a new generation of diet foods, but our commitment to taste and quality remained paramount,” said Ronald G. Bennett, vice president and general manager of Knott’s Berry Farm Foods in Placentia. The product ranked high in company-sponsored consumer taste tests.

NutraSweet has raced to popularity as an artificial sweetener, showing up in 3,000 products worldwide that range from diet soft drinks to coleslaw, said Gina Manci, spokeswoman for The NutraSweet Co. in Deerfield, Ill., a division of Monsanto Co.

The jam and jelly market remained untapped, however, because the two amino acids that comprise the artificial sweetener would break apart during the cooking process, losing their sweetness. Manci said the problem is solved by adding the sweetener after the cooked fruits have cooled.

“Knott’s is a new customer for us,” she said. The introduction of a NutraSweet-flavored jam “strengthens our visibility in the market and allows consumers to eat a product with eight calories a teaspoon” instead of the customary 18 calories per teaspoon of regular jam.

While banking on the quality reputation of the Knott’s name, the new product will have its share of competition at the supermarket.

The J.M. Smucker Co. of Orrville, Ohio, which holds a leading 38% of the national jam and jelly market, is already test marketing a NutraSweet reformulation of its Slenderella fruit spread, which is aimed at the diet-foods segment and is often only found on diet counters.