Rare sugars in focus
Tate & Lyle and Matsutani (ADM) also created a stir at the IFT show this year with 'low-calorie sugar' allulose, the hottest 'rare sugar' on the block, which is getting food manufacturers excited as it contains virtually no calories (0.2-0.4 kcal/gram vs sugar at 4 kcal/gram), but has the bulk, texture and taste of regular sugar, and 70% of the sweetness.
Allulose, which works well with high potency sweeteners such as stevia and sucralose, can be used to reduce or replace sugar in everything from beverages, yogurt and ice cream to baked products, candies, salad dressings, gum, cereals and sugar substitutes.
It also browns during baking, depresses the freezing point when making frozen products, and is highly-soluble, which means it is easy to use in liquid products.
Whether consumers - and plaintiff's attorneys in California - will regard it as 'natural' is a moot point, however (allulose is found naturally in some fruits, but is manufactured on a commercial scale via the enzymatic conversion of corn, sugar, or other materials containing fructose).
As for labeling, while allulose is low-calorie and has no impact on blood sugar, it is still classified as a sugar, which means it counts towards the sugar grams on the Nutrition Facts panel.
And this might confuse diabetics and other label-watchers, acknowledged Michael Harrison, SVP New Product Development at Tate & Lyle.
"We're working very closely with the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) to tackle this issue," added Harrison, who said Tate & Lyle's allulose (under the Dolcia Prima brand) was priced "competitively" against erythritol.
Dr Steven Young, a technical advisor to Matsutani America - which currently manufactures allulose in Japan (brand name: Astraea) but is looking for US partners - said it would be great if the FDA would recognize that all sugars were not created equal, so that there could be a more nuanced conversation around sugars, just as there is around fats.
Picture: Tate & Lyle