Tagatose set for Europe

The approval for tagatose in the EU as a novel food ingredient is expected to be completed before the 2nd quarter of 2006.

Arla Food Ingredients has applied to approve D-Tagatose as a novel food ingredient in the EU. Arla proposes to market D-Tagatose as a novel food ingredient in the EU in a variety of products, (including selected varieties of baked goods, beverages, confectionery and ready-to-eat cereals). The product is slightly less sweet than table sugar and provides less energy.

Tagatose is produced through the SweetGredients KG joint venture between European Nordzucker AG and Arla Foods Ingredients amba. Erik Adamson at Arla told FoodIngredientsFirst that the approval is prone to some delays but is expected to be completed before the 2nd quarter of 2006, although he was of course hoping that it would come through quicker.

D-Tagatose is a sugar, with a similar structure to fructose and is naturally present in heat-treated dairy products. Gaio tagatose can be used either for its healthy effects in high doses or as a flavour enhancer in low doses, while its high functionality makes it easy to work with. The company claims that Gaio tagatose creates unique opportunities to develop the healthy foods market by improving taste and enabling strong claims.

A dosage of up to 1% of tagatose in combination with a high intensity sweetener such as aspartame, acesulfame-K or sucralose makes it possible to reduce the amount of high intensity sweetener by up to 30%. “This gives the product a more sugar like taste and more bulkness to give improved mouthfeel and reduce the lingering aftertaste”, Adamson said. He noted that a reduction in the amount of sucralose used could have plenty of potential at the moment considering the reported sucralose shortage.

Gaio tagatose has a FDA notified GRAS status in the US, and was launched in the US market in May 2003. The ingredient has novel food status in Australia and New Zealand where it is allowed in a restricted number of applications, while it is also available in South Korea. Adamson said that tagatose had particular potential for the beverage market in Europe, but would not divulge into details about which food and beverage companies Arla is currently talking to.