Sugar-reducing technology trialled on forest fruit juices

Better Juice has announced the successful completion of a series of pilot trials for reducing simple sugars in natural berry and other fruit juices. In partnership with GEA Group, Better Juice hosted several fruit juice manufacturers from the EU, the US, Australia and Brazil to give their brands a sugar-reduction makeover using its technology.

The trials were conducted at a pilot unit built last year in GEA’s innovation centre in Ahaus, Germany. Accommodating the GEA Better Juice Converter Skid, the site is equipped with continuous flow columns containing Better Juice’s sugar-reducing beads. During the trials, sugar content across a range of forest fruit juices, including strawberry, cherry and blueberry, was reduced by 30–50% while preserving taste and texture.

Eran Blachinsky, co-founder and co-CEO of Better Juice, said forest fruit juices typically contain 10% or more sugar.

The company’s proprietary sugar-reduction beads are non-GMO microorganisms that naturally convert the juice’s sucrose, glucose and fructose into prebiotic oligosaccharides and other non-digestible fibres while retaining nutrients.

Gali Yarom, co-founder and co-CEO of Better Juice, said several companies expressed an interest in bringing the products they tested to market.

“We are currently in advanced discussions with several major US-based fruit juice companies to install our technology in their juice production systems. We project sugar-reduced forest fruit juices will reach the shelves early next year,” Yarom said.

The treatment process was claimed to be successful for clear NFC (not from concentrate) juices, dense concentrates and pulp-retained juices. Concentrates are used by a number of juice manufacturers to reduce shipping costs by evaporating the water and adding it back during bottling.

Forest fruit juices naturally contain pulp, and many juice companies aim to retain it in their products. Better Juice’s technology has been designed to ensure pulp remains in the product to preserve the nutritional benefits of the fruit.

Michael Harenkamp, Sales Support Engineer for Non-Alcoholic Beverages, GEA, said companies also tested other fruit-based products, such as jams.

Image credit: iStock.com/CharlieAJA