Flavor strategies for sugar reduction
31 Jul 2018 | Sensient
Sugar reduction is also an area for Sensient that cannot be ignored. FoodIngredientsFirst spoke with Keerthana Perumbala, from Sensient during IFT in Chicago. “It comes as no surprise that sugar is a highly controversial ingredient. There are so many projects that seek to reduce sugar, government strategies and new regulations about how much sugar a product should contain, as the world tries to reduce obesity and other weight-related health problems.” At the Sensient stand, Perumbala discussed sugar reduction comparison between a full-sugared cookie and a cookie that contained 30 percent less sugar, to see how they compared. “Consumers don’t want to sacrifice on taste – so we wanted to display this side by side comparison and see what the reaction was,” she adds.
This is Rob Warriors at the IFT Food Expo in Chicago, and I'm here with Kierra Perumbala from Sentient.
Kiera, there's a big trend towards sugar reduction.
What are you doing in this regard and where do you see opportunities?
So I'm sure it comes to nobody as a surprise that sugar is one of those highly debatable ingredients right now, and all trends points to reducing sugar, whether be it for the.
Rise in obesity rates or diabetes rates or even like laws and regulations that are dictating that all brands reduce sugar in their products, so I think it's only it's only smart that products and product makers are responding to it with technologies and ideas on how to reduce sugar.
So what we're showcasing here at IFT 2018 today is our sugar reduction technology.
So the idea is that we have a, we have a side by side comparison of a full sugar product with a reduced sugar product and reduced sugar product with our technology, our sweetness solution technology.
So maybe you can explain what you have here in front of you.
Yeah, sure.
So this is the full sugar cookie for you to compare and see what is the.
I guess what are consumers' palates used to tasting, so the idea is even if you're looking for better for you products or you know, products with less sugar, more protein, things like that, you're not ready to compromise on the taste.
So the idea is this is the full sugar cookie that we are showcasing just to compare.
This is the cookie with 30% reduced sugar to kind of showcase what are the effects that kind of come up when you reduce sugar with it, so you know, off notes, bitterness.
Beany, grainy textures, those kind of things come up, and this is a 30% reduced sugar cookie with our sweetened solution.
This is again the idea is how closely does this taste to the actual full sugar product.
If you're interested in trying, then we're ready for you.
What sort of flavors are you using to achieve this?
All our solutions are natural, so what the consumer, what the customer would essentially put on the label is a natural flavor.
So our solutions are completely natural.
We have.
Friendly, kosher, allergen-free, halal, whatever the requirement may be we can offer that, and all these are backed by our sensory data.
We have tried and tested the sugar solutions, our sweetness solutions in various categories in various products, and we have sensory data to back up all of our all of our trials.
Where do you see the biggest opportunities?
Which type of applications are you particularly targeting for this?
We've successfully actually helped a number of our customers reduce sugar.
In their yogurt products, in their ice cream products, and lately we've internally tried out in flavored milks, which is a great idea because schools extensively take advantage of flavored milk for kids, and I think that's an area where we see a lot of potential because you don't want to offer beverages to kids that are chock full of sugar.
So we've managed to do a 50% reduction in the market product in flavored milks.
Thank you.
Thank you.
