Sugars


“Reducing the sugar levels of a bakery product will require the introduction of one or more additional ingredients to replace the lost functionality”


tackle some of these taste challenges, helping manufacturers to deliver products which are more in line with consumer preferences but without a loss in taste or texture. Synergy also advises that the addition of fruits, vegetables,


nuts, seeds, fibre or protein can be a good tactic to boost the fibre and protein content of a product and so improve its NPM score – and there is a wide variety of proteins and fibre ingredients on the market today to help achieve this. However, Synergy warns that while each of these ingredients has its benefits, some can present taste challenges by adding undesirable notes such as bitterness or astringency that may need to be masked using taste modulation solutions.


Building blocks Whilst pointing out that there is no one size fits all solution for sugar reduction success in the bakery sector, according to ADM there are three main building blocks of successful sugar reduction in bakery products. The first step is to replace the sweetness of sugar to meet cleaner labelling requirements and this, it says, can be achieved using a variety of alternative sweetener products. The next step is to ensure desirable flavour profiles for the product and to mitigate any potential off-notes as a result of a change of sweetening ingredients. Finally, there is a need to ensure the replacement of the functional properties of sugars to achieve the correct bulking, binding and mouthfeel. To demonstrate its sugar reduction capabilities, ADM


helped to create a reduced sugar, filled and iced orange cupcake. It employed its stevia sweetener offering alongside erythritol and added dietary fibre to ensure the cupcake offered all the functional and textural characteristics of a more traditional cupcake, but with 30% less sugar. Barry Callebaut suggests that a variety of different methods can be employed to achieve sugar reduction in baked goods. The first is to gradually decrease the sugar level a product contains to allow consumers to get accustomed to the changing product taste over a period of time without affecting their perception of the product. However, it points out that this solution can only work up to a certain point before it will start to affect the product’s organoleptic properties. Further, gradual reduction of sugar is often not claimed on packaging, but it can certainly form part of a more extensive consumer health and wellbeing corporate strategy. To claim a ‘reduced in sugar’ label, the overall sugar level in a product needs to be 30% lower than the market average. This classification is used in particular for biscuits and cereals.


20 Kennedy’s Bakery Production May/June 2022


To claim a ‘no sugar’ label will require sugar to be completely replaced with sweeteners, while a product claimed to be ‘Sugar-free cannot contain more than 0.5% sugars of any sort. For a ‘no added sugar ‘or ‘without added sugar’ label the added sugar must be fully replaced but the recipe does still allow for some residual sugar and other sugars, such as lactose. As the recent launches from Boka and Premier Foods demonstrate, it is possible to create bakery products that avoid the expected HFSS restrictions and which also tap into consumers desire for better-for-you sweet treats. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution to get this reformulation right and the best advice we can offer is to collaborate from the outset with an ingredient supplier that will be able to work with you on your reformulation projects to ensure that all of the functional properties that sugar provides in baked goods are adequately replaced. This often requires a great deal of trial and error to get the balance right, but as the trend for more healthy products is not going to abate any time soon, it is certainly worth the effort to ensure your brands remain competitive when the HFSS regulations do come into force.


bakeryproduction.co.uk


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