FEATURE
Bakery and confectionery: sweet appeal
When Chancellor George Osborne announced a shock sugar tax in his spring budget, soft drinks manufacturers might have been first against the wall – but makers of other sweet treats were left waiting anxiously to see who will be the target of the next potshot in the battle to bring down sugar consumption.
It may transpire, however, that consumers, and not the government, will be the real reformulation drivers.
With a growing number of ‘lifestyle consumers’ looking to join diabetics and dieters in searching out lower-sugar products, it could mean that increasing pressure from consumers will prove to be even more important than regulators or pressure groups.
In fact, it looks likely that the emerging demand for lower-sugar options could follow a similar pattern to gluten-free, where there are now more lifestylers than coeliacs shunning gluten.
Specialist manufacturers certainly see it that way.
Norwegian brand Sukrin arrived in the UK in 2012, offering a range of sugar substitutes, sugar-free chocolate and gluten-free cake and bread mixes. Marketing manager Roisin McNeil says there’s a big overlap between low-sugar and gluten-free consumers.
“Once you start taking an interest in what you’re eating, you become much more aware of everything else,” she explains. “So, the rise in gluten-free ties in with the rise in sugar-free.”
Sukrin’s sugar-free strategy relies mainly on erythritol – one of the lesser-known sugar alcohols, or polyols.
“We can literally replace sugar gram-for-gram in baking. We’ve baked everything from cakes to biscuits and people can’t tell the difference at all,” McNeil says.
Until recently, the company’s cake mix also contained a small amount of the intense sweetener sucralose, but Sukrin is now switching to a formulation that combines erythritol with xylitol – another polyol.
“We are looking forward to having a completely natural line of sweetened products once this comes into effect,” McNeil says.
The rise of maltitol (return to top)
The Diablo brand from US firm B-Healthy also arrived in the UK in 2012, with its sugar-free range of biscuits, chocolates and sweets.
Marketing manager Ilanit Kaufman says that, unusually, the UK is playing catch-up when it comes to embracing low-sugar innovation, with sugar-free a more established category in supermarkets across the Far East, Middle East and some markets in Europe.
“It’s not a big market in the UK yet, but we’ve seen a boom in the last two years, thanks to a combination of health concerns from consumers and the negative PR that sugar has received lately,” she says.
Diablo products rely on maltitol – yet another polyol. Maltitol is the ‘go-to’ solution for most low-sugar bakers, since its properties are very like those of sugar, making for a straightforward substitution.
“Maltitol gives a good taste and it’s very safe,” says Kaufman.
She’s also dismissive of stevia as an option in some applications, even though it appeals to consumers looking for a ‘natural’ option.
“We’ve tried it but realised that if you take a chocolate bar and just sweeten it with stevia it tastes awful,” Kaufman says.
“Therefore, some companies are using a minor amount of stevia and mostly using maltitol, but the pack says it’s sweetened with stevia – which I don’t think is particularly honest.”
Ingredient suppliers are also experiencing an upsurge in interest in sugar-free. Take Ireks, for example, which includes within its product range a sugar-free cake mix that relies on maltitol.
“The reduced sugar trend has grown in popularity among consumers who follow an ‘everything in moderation’ approach.
“As a result, many consumers still wish to indulge in a sweet treat or two, so the onus is to provide your customers with choice,” says Maurice van Tongeren, executive director at Ireks UK.
“Reduced sugar products that still look and taste great will enable you to take advantage of this growing trend.
“We developed our Ireks multi-cake sugar-free mix for precisely this reason, enabling our customers to offer their consumers delicious tasting sugar-free treats,” van Tongeren says.
The mix can be used to create batters for all types of muffins and cakes, meaning those looking for lower sugar options don’t have to compromise on taste, he adds.
“Since about a year ago, the demand for sugar alternatives in Europe has been booming,” agrees Marie Blondel, spokeswoman for starch producer Roquette. “Reducing sugars is clearly on the agenda of cereals-based goods producers right now. This reduction is not necessary claimed on packaging.”
According to the Mintel Global New Products Database, sugar reduction is slowly but surely becoming a key feature of the wellness market – reflected by the fact that the average amount of sugar used in ‘sweet bakery’ has gone down over the last five years, Blondel says.
“At the same time, maltitol use is also growing in popularity in both biscuits and ‘soft bakery’.
“In fact, maltitol is very much ‘the’ solution to reduce or totally replace sugar in sweet baked goods and its success is spreading,” she adds.
Maltitol contains 40% less calories than sugars, does not promote tooth decay and is suitable for diabetics.
Roquette markets maltitol under its SweetPearl brand, as well offering sweetener solutions based on its Nutriose soluble fibre.
According to Blondel, the real challenge in baked goods is to achieve a true reduction of simple sugars or even a total substitution at the same time as preserving taste (especially sweetness) and texture (remember: sugar is a bulking agent and plays a key texture-generating role).
“In almost every case, maltitol can be integrated into a process exactly as is, and be treated as a direct substitute for sugar, using exactly the same proportions, without major changes to processing.
For instance, in baking, maltitol is used as a 1:1 substitution without hindering water activity in the final product,” she explains.
Alternative sweeteners (return to top)
Cargill senior bakery application specialist Peter Velds agrees that maltitol is the preferred solution for many ‘no-added sugar’ bakery applications since its sweetness and functionality mimic sugar so effectively.
However, he says that adding other ingredients into the mix can really add to the quality of finished products.
“Isomalt provides less sweetness, but in combination with maltitol it may provide extended crispiness in biscuits and prevent sticky crusts in cakes,” he says.
“Sorbitol has already been used in combination with sucrose as a humectant in cakes for many years. Finally, Zerose erythritol can provide excellent, smooth fat creams while offering a cooling effect.”
He also stresses that sweet ingredients can also support texture improvements in baking.
“Fermentable sugars are added in yeast-leavened formulations as yeast food to improve fermentation.
Some of our C*Sweet glucose syrups can also be considered when the customer wants, for instance, to replace sugars and/or obtain a more plastic, processable dough and so improve the final textures.
The common point is that our customers can benefit [in terms of product texture] from our combined sweetness and protein expertise,” says Velds.
He highlights the growing importance of specialised proteins that can deliver texture improvements in dough, as well as boosting the appeal of products to consumers on the lookout for higher-protein baked goods in yet another of the key ‘lifestyle’ trends that are currently emerging.
Bart Cortebeeck, Cargill’s senior application specialist for confectionery, says the technical requirements are quite different in this market.
“In the confectionery segment, C*Maltidex maltitol will be used for sugar replacement in gums, jellies and chewing gum coating.
“In other applications, like hard boiled candies, however, C*Isomaltidex isomalt is the most preferred sweetener.
“C*Sorbidex sorbitol is an excellent texture builder in the cores of chewing gum. Hence, the statement that maltitol is the major solution for low-sugar or sugar-free confectionery is not fully correct,” he says.
“Confectionery applications where a cooking process is in place need, to some extent, an adjustment of the process conditions when replacing sugar. Polyols have a different viscosity and stability profile.
“Therefore, for instance, higher boiling temperatures are required during the cooking process.”
So, there’s a lot of activity in specialist no- and low-sugar products. However, it’s the overall level of sugar consumption that’s causing concern, so some mainstream manufacturers and suppliers are starting to look at how far they can reduce the sugar levels in their standard baked goods.
Reformulation trend (return to top)
Greg Woodhead, product development manager with baking ingredients supplier British Bakels, says this trend is poised to take hold.
“While we don’t think that it is ‘forcing’ any change at this moment in time because there have been little or no changes to cakes and biscuits lines as a result of the recent media attention on sugar,” he explains.
“So far, we have had little demand from our customers but we believe they will start to focus more on this issue soon.”
Bakels expects industrial bakers to reduce their sugar content and it has come up with a series of solutions to help achieve this.
“However, while we have the technology and know-how in place, very few of our industrial customers have yet moved to reformulate their products.”
There are several reasons why bakers may be slow to react, including cost, technical challenges and marketing obstacles, with some consumers balking at ingredients lists that include unfamiliar substitutes such as oligofructose, polydextrose or polyols.
In addition, for bakers to market products with ‘lower sugar’ claims, new recipes have to contain 30% less, and Woodhead says this is something of an impossible mission for mainstream products.
“Sugar can be taken out of some cake batters with a degree of success, and muffins, cupcakes and pound cakes, for example, can withstand a 30% reduction in sugar with no significant detriment to the taste.
“However, overall, the exercise is somewhat futile as any sugar taken out at the baking stage is being added back into the vast majority of cakes via fillings and toppings.”
While it is possible to produce a doughnut that has a 30% reduction in sugar, that doughnut is then filled with jam and rolled in sugar before going on sale.
Likewise, many cakes have icings that are up to 80% sugar. All cakes and baked goods will have some sort of filling, again heavily reliant on sugar. So, a 30% reduction in the cake batter might only lead to a 5%–10% reduction overall in the finished goods.
Bakels, therefore, believes 15% is a more realistic aim for most reformulations. “We have been working on this issue for the past 18 months and we have developed proprietary solutions,” says Woodhead.
In some cases, the solution may involve just reducing sugar levels. However, in applications where substitution is required, Bakels is focusing on polydextrose and oligofructose combined with other functional ingredients.
“These ingredients are classed as dietary fibre, so also provide a calorie benefit in addition to the reduction in the overall glycaemic response,” says Woodhead.
A reduction in sugar will lead to a reformulation of a product. But it will also affect how that cake will work on the production line, he adds.
“At our Bicester factory, products can be tested and necessary adjustments made before going into full-scale production.”
