The big interview: Henry Hussell, Cargill

Given their unique vulnerability to rising oil prices (the production process is very energy intensive), fierce competition from low-cost Asian producers and rocketing cereal prices, bulk sweeteners might not look like the smartest game in town right now.Unsettling though these macroeconomic factors are, however, Cargill is probably better equipped than many rivals to adapt to the prospect of oil at $170 a barrel, observes Henry Hussell, the man in charge of marketing the firm's sweeteners in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

For a start, sweeteners are just part of a bewilderingly broad portfolio of ingredients sold by the multibillion-dollar turnover (yet still privately owned) firm, spanning everything from texturisers, cocoa butter and flavours to functional ingredients such as barley beta-glucan, soy protein isolates, plant sterols and omega-3 fatty acids.

More importantly, bosses have also continued to pump all available cash into developing new sweeteners (erythritol, isomaltulose) with technical and nutritional benefits that can help Cargill tap into faster growing market sectors with more appealing profit margins.

It is only through innovation like this that Cargill will stay ahead, says Hussell. "Competition from China and India is a growing challenge in markets such as the US and Middle East, so you have to keep inventing new things to compete."

One new creation is Truvia: a high-intensity sweetener made from the leaf of the stevia plant that has taken Cargill into virgin territory with a product many observers believe could blow rivals out of the water as consumers spurn 'artificial' sweeteners for ones seen as more 'natural'.

Realistically, however, Truvia is unlikely to arrive on the EU market for some time given that it is subject to the Novel Food Regulation. Meanwhile, bosses are still trying to secure the Generally Recognised As Safe (GRAS) status that will enable its use in food and drink products in the US.

Another new sweetener is in the pipeline, hints Hussell, although he won't provide details, "it's more than two years away"

Today, however, the sweetener attracting all the column inches is erythritol, unique among the polyols as it the only non-caloric bulk sweetener (it contains less than 0.2kcal/g), yet has two-thirds the sweetness of sugar and good digestive tolerance.

Thanks to the peculiarities of the EU regulatory framework, Cargill is now allowed to sell erythritol in Europe, but is barred from communicating its biggest USPs - a source of much frustration to the marketing department, admits Hussell.

"As erythritol has been lumped together with all the other polyols which have been assigned an arbitrary calorific value of 2.4kcal/g​, we are currently barred from making a zero calorie claim in the EU." Equally frustratingly, the polyol classification also means that when used in certain amounts, erythritol triggers the laxative warnings, despite an acknowledgement from the EU's Scientific Committee on Food way back in 2003 that it is "way better tolerated" than other polyols, says Hussell.

To add insult to injury, as a polyol, it is also banned from beverages - a product sector that has proved key to its growth in the US and Asia, where such rules don't apply. Not surprisingly, Cargill has been lobbying hard for the right to free Zerose (its ambitiously titled brand name for erythritol) from this regulatory straitjacket, says Hussell.

"We are providing the clinical evidence to support our case about digestive tolerance for erythritol, but regulatory change doesn't happen overnight. It's a long haul, but we're hopeful that by 2009 we will at least get the approval to make the zero calorie claim in Europe as the European Food Safety Authority has acknowledged its zero-calorie status."

Regulatory gripes notwithstanding, many customers, claims Hussell, have developed something of an 'emotional attachment' to Zerose, which does not raise blood glucose or insulin levels. It can also be used in products marketed on a tooth-friendly platform as it is not fermented by oral bacteria to produce enamel-rotting acids.

The biggest opportunities for Zerose are in sugar confectionery, chewing gum, chilled dairy desserts, reduced calorie ice creams and one-shot drinks, says Hussell.

When used in combination with maltitol, Zerose can also help manufacturers develop reduced calorie chocolate, he says, although he accepts that this remains a niche market at present. Quite why (reduced calorie chocolate represents less than 0.4% of the western European market by volume), is probably less to do with quality than marketing, speculates Hussell. "It actually performs well in sensory and consumer tests. But if you market an indulgent product purely on the basis of low calories, people will assume that it won't be as good."

Xtend isomaltulose - a tooth-friendly sweetener derived from sugar via enzymatic conversion, is another potential star in Cargill's portfolio, as it contains the same energy as sugar, but releases it in a sustained manner, without inducing unwanted spikes in glucose or insulin production. This makes it ideal for sports nutrition. Studies also suggest that it could have interesting weight management applications as it promotes the utilisation of body fat as an energy source, he says.

As for what consumers want from sugar confectionery, he says, first and foremost, they want 'natural' ingredients (sweeteners, flavours, colours), but they are also looking for low, no, or reduced sugar.

With the sharp rise of type-two diabetes, they will also increasingly be looking for products that help control blood glucose, he predicts, although low-GI (glycaemic index) may not be the most appropriate means of communicating this. "We've got to find something the consumer feels comfortable talking about. GI has never really taken off as a marketing term."

Indeed, allocating resources to finding out what consumers want in the most cost-efficient way is a key challenge, admits Hussell. "We are starting to get more involved in direct consumer research about our specific products. The problem is that focus groups are expensive, and you can't simply assume that what works in France or Poland will work in Germany or the UK."

While working for a company the size of Cargill has clear advantages, it can also be a victim of its own success, says Hussell. "There is a saying that comes from our customers that's something like: 'If Cargill only knew what Cargill knows.' That said, we are having far more joined up conversations with customers now as a result of becoming more category-focused."

A bigger challenge - albeit one not unique to Cargill - is persuading customers to open up sufficiently in order to benefit from external expertise, says Hussell. "Things are changing, and we have strong customer relationships, but there is still real anxiety about competitive issues and intellectual property. Sometimes, projects actually get abandoned because customers can't make something work. And you think, if they had just let us have a bit more access, we could have solved this problem. The more manufacturers open up, the more we can help them."