Sugars and Sweeteners
Klaudia went on to discuss the growth in the use of functional carbohydrates
in the confectionery
sector.
She says: “Longer-term health is influencing purchasing decisions taken for children, with 75% of parents globally saying it is ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ important for children’s products to have better nutrition. As a result, we are seeing more customers looking to reformulate their confectionery products to make them sugar-free or sugar-reduced, while also still wanting a treat that delivers in terms of taste and texture.” Translating this trend and overcoming a range of technical challenges, BENEO-Technology Centre has been working on a range of sugar-free candy and gum concepts which help demonstrate the potential for new confectionery coatings. The end result is a raft of new product concepts based on its Isomalt sugar replacer – including a translucent coated chewy candy, and a soft mint chewable with sanded coating – the goal is to help confectionery manufacturers overcome various challenges when replacing sugar with an alternative, including reduced stickiness and delivering high form stability, enabling the creation of complex shapes and allowing for individual solutions for low and no sugar confectionery applications.
A balanced approach
Magalie Benoit, Senior Application Specialist Confectionery at Cargill also accepts that the pandemic has accelerated demand from consumers for healthier foods.
20 Kennedy’s Confection April 2022
“After eating more fruit, the second most popular strategy
that consumers planned to adopt was to reduce their sugar intake”
“There has been a shift in sweet categories towards a more balanced approach in recipe formulation,” she says. “Whereas traditionally the focus of reformulation was on a single ingredient, for example the reduction of sugar, the surge in front-of-pack nutrition labelling schemes, like Nutri-Score, has brought the overall balance of the recipe to the forefront. This focus on improvements in Nutri- Score labels leads to overall more balanced products, which not only look to reduce certain nutrients but also take into account the increase of ‘positive elements’ such as proteins and fibres.”
Magalie points out, however, that the drive for sugar reduction is ongoing. Innova data shows that 16% of sugar confectionery launches tracked in Europe in 2021 featured a sugar and/or calorie claim. The most popular sugar-related claim by far remains ‘sugar free’. It is the most common claim for gums (85% of 2021 launches), medicated confectionery (47% of 2021 launches) and mints (44% of 2021 launches).
KennedysConfection.com
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