“By combining our manufacturing network and global footprint alongside Matsutani’s pioneering work in rare sugars, we will bring exciting opportunities grounded in innovation to meet the needs of the evolving food industry ahead of sugar labeling changes,” said Tony DeLio, senior vice president of corporate strategy and chief innovation officer at Ingredion.
“Reducing sucrose is an emerging global trend and can be a challenge for manufacturers, who are looking to match the sweet taste of sugar while achieving the same functional benefits in their products,” he added.
The rare sugar, which will maintain Matsutani’s Astraea brand, will be manufactured by Ingredion in Mexico and will be marketed across the Americas in 2019.
Tastes like sugar but with virtually no calories
Allulose, also known as psicose, is a monosaccharide and contains virtually no calories (0.2-0.4 kcal/gram vs sugar at 4 kcal/gram). It has the bulk, texture and taste of regular sugar, and 70% of the sweetness.
The sugar works well with high potency sweeteners such as stevia and sucralose, can be used to reduce or replace sugar in everything from beverages, yogurt and ice cream to baked products, candies, salad dressings, gum, cereals and sugar substitutes.
It also browns during baking, depresses the freezing point when making frozen products, and is highly-soluble, which means it is easy to use in liquid products.
Matsutani has been developing the ingredient for over 15 years. The company received a letter of no objection from the FDA about the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status of the ingredient in 2014.
“Matsutani has also produced more clinical studies and conducted more research on rare sugars than any other allulose supplier. We are excited to see Ingredion bring ASTRAEA Allulose to food and beverage formulators across the Americas,” said Yoshinobu Matsutani, executive vice president at Matsutani.
Ingredion’s specialties business
Rob Ritchie, president and general director of Ingredion Mexico, added that the partnership supports the company’s goal to grow its specialties business to $2 billion in annual sales by 2022.
“We are growing our trend-connected engine of innovation by expanding our footprint in Mexico and adding allulose to our diverse portfolio of sugar reduction solutions,” said Ritchie. “We look forward to leveraging Ingredion’s Idea Labs and applying our technical expertise to help manufacturers find the right solutions and create reduced sugar and better-for-you products with optimal texture and performance.”
