Tate & Lyle launches crunchy snack-coating in US

09/03/06 Tate & Lyle has launched Coated Snack CREATE 700 at the Snack Food Association’s SnaxPo 2006 Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Developed by Tate & Lyle’s US food ingredients team in Decatur, Illinois, Coated Snack CREATE 700 is a new Solution Set which can be used to create dual textured snacks that have a light, crispy shell and are soft inside. The crunchy coating can be used on fruit pieces and a variety of other products including peanuts, soy nuts and sunflower kernels. Compatible with almost unlimited varieties of flavor, Coated Snack CREATE 700 offers consumers a truly original taste experience. Spicy fire roasted strawberries, chili lime soy nut, coated blueberries and golden raisins will all be available for tasting at SnaxPo.
 
Coated Snack CREATE 700 is used to formulate coated baked products and enables manufacturers to develop dual textured lower fat snacks. Moisture is removed with baking, which results in a light and crunchy texture with mild sweetness.  Additionally, because the coating is made with SPLENDA Sucralose, it has bake stable sweetness and the customer can formulate a coating that achieves a no sugar added claim. Coated Snack Create 700 produces exciting snacks without adding high amounts of fat or sugar sometimes associated with snacks and food on the go.
 
“Consumers are increasingly looking for more than just a satisfying taste – they want exciting and surprising new flavors. Manufacturers are increasingly expected to delight and tantalise the taste buds,” stated Doris Dougherty, senior food scientist, Tate & Lyle.
 
“Our new Solution Set makes dried fruits and raisins more interesting and appealing or soy nuts more tasty.  This technology can be used to revolutionize snacks by offering fruit or soy nut choices in forms that are just fun to eat.  The sky’s the limit in terms of how the coating can be flavored or textured by use of oats, bran or other products.  For example, the spicy, fire roasted strawberry is a unique, unexpected combination of hot and sweet and has a crispy jacket surrounding a soft, chewy fruit piece.”
 
Harvey Chimoff, Director of Marketing, Americas said, “Eating on-the-go and outside of the three traditional daily meal occasions is on the rise and probably will continue as people’s lives are increasingly busy.  At the same time, consumers want great tasting food that they believe is more nutritious. Our research has shown that 78% of consumers want to limit fat, and 72% sugar, to have a healthy diet. 
 
“Coated Snack CREATE 700 addresses both of these consumer trends to bring a new dimension to snacking.  We believe food manufacturers and retailers with own brands can offer consumers a different snacking experience that increases fruit intake or provides unexpected flavors with this new Tate & Lyle CREATE solution.” 
 
Coated Snack CREATE 700 is marketed under the Tate & Lyle CREATE services, which enable manufacturers to bring innovative new products to market and rejuvenate brands through new food and beverage concepts.

Coated Snack CREATE 700 is easy to incorporate in a tumbler coating process, and is used at a 40 – 60 percent level in a dry coating matrix and is typically combined with cereal flours or particulates before it is applied over food pieces in a tumbler.  An adhesion slurry with TATE & LYLE Stadex dextrins, Tapioca Dextrins or STAR-DRI Corn Syrup Solids is typically sprayed over food pieces in a rotating tumbler prior to the application of the dry mix. 
 
Multiple applications of adhesion slurry and dry mix with Coated Snack CREATE™ 700 are incorporated over food pieces in the tumbler until a smooth and soft coating with target thickness is achieved.  The coated food pieces are then baked at 350 - 375 degrees Fahrenheit to achieve a crisp coating with 3 – 5 percent moisture in the finished product.  The amount and the viscosity of the adhesion slurry should be adjusted to prevent stickiness between the food pieces during the coating and baking process. 

Meanwhile in the UK Tate & Lyle’s consumer business has launched Light Cane has 40% fewer calories but all the taste of ordinary sugar.
 
Alongside its existing range of quality cane sugars, containing just 16 calories per teaspoon, new Tate & Lyle Light Cane contains just over 9 calories per teaspoon.  Made from Granulated Cane Sugar, sucralose (a no-calorie sweetener that is made from sugar) and maltodextrin, Tate & Lyle Light Cane will help the calorie savings to add up easily. And, because it’s made with sugar, it’s just as versatile when it comes to cooking and baking, the company writes.