By Joyce Friedberg for Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery

New sweetening tools and techniques help maintain sweetness, flavor, and functionality, while also reducing sugar.

Sweet is one of the five basic taste sensations. While most people enjoy sweets, they are also mindful about the amount of sugar and carbs in their diet.

Sarah Diedrich, marketing director, global sweetening and texturizing, ADM, Chicago, shares some insights from ADM’s proprietary research, “ADM Outside Voice,” which found 8 out of 10 consumers are engaged in sugar reduction. Of those, 79% find sugar reduction is important for bars and snacks, and 70% for baked goods.

Not all sweeteners are created equal, and shoppers are gravitating to more natural and naturally sourced sweeteners. Cargill, Minneapolis, fields an annual proprietary research study called “IngredienTracker” to understand consumer perceptions of specific ingredients. This research is conducted among a representative sample of 11,000 U.S. grocery consumers. In the most recent research (2021), the company evaluated over 260 ingredients, which included 60 sweeteners and bulking agents. Carla Saunders, senior marketing manager, high-intensity sweeteners, shares some key highlights:

  • Pantry staples like sugar, honey, and brown sugar post high familiarity scores
  • Stevia is also familiar to the majority of consumers
  • Stevia is widely viewed as healthy

Other sweeteners that score well in the “IngredienTracker” research are honey, agave, monk fruit extract, rice bran extract, organic cane sugar, and molasses. Conversely, consumers rate sugar, corn syrup, aspartame, and high-fructose corn syrup as the least healthy.

Make no mistake: nomenclature matters. Consumers have a more-favorable view of beet sugar, with its clear reference to its botanical source, as compared to sugar.

The perennial challenge with reducing sugar is that while we want foods with lower sugar and carbs, we are not willing to sacrifice taste. There are many considerations that product developers need to take into account when reducing sugar, including claims, label implications, manufacturing implications, replacing sweetness, rebalancing flavor, and rebuilding functionality.

Read full article here: https://www.snackandbakery.com/articles/98280-sweetener-solutions-for-snack-and-bakery-formulations