Tagatose gains Novel food status in the UK

20/09/05 Spherix Incorporated has announced that the Food Standards Agency in the United Kingdom has signed off on an application by Arla Foods Ingredients of Denmark for the use of tagatose as a "novel food ingredient" in the European Union (EU). The remaining 24 EU member states have 60 days to respond to Arla with questions about the application or to sign off on the application. According to Arla officials, European approval of tagatose is now expected by the first quarter of 2006. Novel food status will allow Arla to sell tagatose throughout the EU for a wide variety of new products.  Arla is Spherix's licensee for the food and beverage uses of tagatose.

Spherix also reported that, on September 12, 2005, tagatose was approved for use as a novel ingredient in Brazil.  Tagatose has already been approved for use in foods and beverages in the U.S., Korea, and Australia/New Zealand.

Approval is also underway in Canada, Japan, and Mexico.  With these approvals, tagatose would become a truly international product.

Tagatose is a natural low-calorie sweetener that tastes and acts like table sugar, and, unlike synthetic sweeteners, has the full bulk needed to be used as a sugar replacement in cooking.  In addition, small amounts of it are used to improve the mouthfeel, sweetness, and flavor profile of products containing high-intensity sweeteners.

In 1996, Arla Foods Ingredients licensed the exclusive worldwide rights to produce and commercialize tagatose for use in foods and beverages from Spherix.  Arla and Nordzucker AG, a German sugar producer, have formed a joint venture company named SweetGredients KG to manufacture and market tagatose under the brand name Gaio(R) tagatose.  SweetGredients is the only worldwide producer of Gaio(R) tagatose.  Spherix retains the rights to the non-food uses of tagatose, which it is marketing under the brand name Naturlose(TM) as an ingredient to be used in toothpaste, mouthwash, over-the-counter drugs, and pharmaceuticals.