(CP) - Sugar manufacturer Redpath officially entered the artificial sweetener business Wednesday, announcing a new product for foods not already under the NutraSweet swirl.

Sucralose, marketed in Canada as Splenda, will find its way into some of the same foods now sweetened by aspartame-based NutraSweet, such as non-carbonated fruit drinks, Murray McEwen, chairman of Redpath Industries, told a news conference.

Currently, U.S.-based NutraSweet has a 95 per cent grip on Canada's $25-million artificial sweetener industry - a market [Jeff Hatt] said will double in the next five years.