A joint venture between Swedish-Danish dairy group Arla Foods and German sugar refiner Nordzucker AG has been cleared by the European Union. The decision by the EU competition authorities approves a joint venture between the two companies to produce a new sweetener, tagatose. Arla and Nordzucker have already opened a factory in Germany to produce tagatose, and a second factory is expected to be built in Denmark if demand for the product meets expectations. Tagatose is made from milk and reportedly looks, feels and tastes like real sugar yet has around one-third of the calories. It is produced under license from the US inventor Spherix Inc.