BT Sweet’s child-friendly platform slashes sweet spreads’ sugar loads in half

11 Jan 2022 --- Israel-based BT Sweet has launched Cambya, a plant-based sweetening platform that can reduce sugar in treats like hazelnut and chocolate spreads. It comes as a response to growing reformulation demands – especially around child-friendly foods – spurred by new regulations and targets introduced worldwide.

The drop-in sugar replacer is based on soluble fibers, monk fruit and select botanicals. It is a 1:1 equivalent to sugar, both in function and flavor. 

According to the start-up, Cambya delivers optimal sweetening capacity without the need for masking agents. It is well suited for lowering sugar levels in confectionary, cereals and ice cream. Crucially, it does not leave any lingering aftertastes.

CEO Yoav Gaon tells FoodIngredientsFirst that this resulting taste is the biggest differentiation point between Cambya and other sweetening solutions. 

“However, there is also still a lot of room for innovation in the burgeoning sugar alternative space. The biggest potential today is sugar reduction through natural, plant-based sweetening solutions like Cambya.” 

A tested product
The sweetening platform has been tested in several spread formulations with the goal of creating low-sugar spread applications that cut the sugar load by at least fifty percent according to clients’ requests. Notably, sweet spreads typically contain up to 50% sucrose. 

“Sweet spreads are a highly sugary product that are part of the confectionary world. However, it is also one of the family’s most loved and consumed products,” says Gaon. 

“Therefore, if we want to help propel sugar reduction on a global level, we start with the most popular products.”

The challenge was to perfectly mimic the flavor, color and texture of a traditional category-leading sweet spread without any change to the mass of the product. 

The resulting “plug and play” product means that there is no need for additives to keep the same weight as the product. 

Manufacturers have the flexibility to completely switch to BT Sweet’s natural sweetening system or balance it with sugar and other sweeteners according to desired levels without any adjustment to the recipe. The company stresses that this could save R&D time and money.BT Sweet currently operates a production plant in Europe.

Targeting children
In addition to extensive sensory lab testing across all parameters, the start-up trialed the products among children and parents.

Founder and chairman Dagi Pekatch notes that children are the primary market for chocolate spreads, birthday cakes, cookies filled with cream and similar products.

“We received excellent feedback from them, and we all know kids are hard to fool.”

Childhood obesity is a major issue in countries like the UK, with the government unveiling a new app-centric campaign yesterday that aims to encourage healthy choices. 

Struggling to keep sugar intakes low
This launch comes as industry is under pressure to help consumers stay within healthy sugar intake levels. 

According to the UK’s National Health Service, while it is recommended that adults have no more than 30 g of free sugars daily, children ages 7 to 10 should have no more than 24 g per day. Meanwhile, children ages 4 to 6 should have no more than 19 g of free sugars in a day.

So far, however, major F&B companies have made limited changes to the healthiness of their products in response to Public Health England’s voluntary reformulation targets.

Nonetheless, World Health Organization (WHO) recently chose the UK to lead a new Sugar and Calorie Reduction Network to reduce sugar and calorie intake across Europe.

Edited by Katherine Durrell