A different approach to sugar reduction

International flavour house Givaudan has a new approach to sugar reduction that delivers fully satisfying, reduced-sugar products without added sweeteners.

Formulating less sweet products that have the same appeal as fully sweet ones is a challenge that requires more than simply subtracting sugar and Givaudan is claiming their system is maintaining consumer preference while delivering a 50% reduction in sugar.

The Givaudan team looked for what was delivering satisfaction beyond sweetness; from there they were able to identify non-typical natural ingredients and food techniques that created more complex, full-bodied or impactful tastes, flavours so good that the reduced sweetness wasn’t missed.

To understand and quantify the full sweetness experience, a new, proprietary, sensory-profiling methodology — the Holistic Language — was developed. This profiling technique allows Givaudan to deeply understand the consumer experience and translate this knowledge into real-world solutions.

Forrest Evans, Regional Product Manager Dairy and Taste in Asia Pacific, explained: “Increasingly, the food industry is being challenged by the public and regulators to play its part in reducing sugar consumption. In Thailand and the Philippines we have seen sweetness taxes introduced, particularly on carbonated beverages, aimed at encouraging people to consume less sugar. In the Philippines the tax also includes all sweeteners except stevia and coconut sugar.

“Asian consumers are adventurous, accepting new flavours and responding well to new innovations. Because of this, across the Asia–Pacific region, there is a significant opportunity to deliver less sweet products without compromising consumer acceptance or preference.

“It is this consumer space that we have focused on to deliver natural, less sweet products with a fully satisfying taste. We think this will offer an exciting new approach for our customers seeking to address the challenges of sugar reduction.”

The new approach was launched at a recent event at Het Amsterdamse Proeflokaal culinary school in Amsterdam, hosted by Givaudan and Michelin-starred chef Thomas Buehner, formerly of restaurant La Vie in Osnabruck, Germany, who demonstrated some of the techniques and approaches he used in this challenging yet successful project.

Two consumer concepts were tasted at the event — a 50% reduced-sugar orange drink that has been proven to perform as well as the full-sugar product in consumer testing and a new reduced-sugar peach yoghurt drink.