Start-up develops sugar-reduction tech for orange juice

Better Juice, a foodtech start-up that developed innovative technology to reduce all types of sugars in orange juice, has announced that its patent-pending technology is now scaling up. The start-up is installing a semi-industrial pilot plant that will be available for future testing at global partners’ plants. The pilot plant features the company’s sugar reduction process in a continuous flow technology that is designed to provide a consistent, safe and effective enzymatic process.

The enzymatic technology uses all-natural ingredients to convert fructose, glucose and sucrose into prebiotic dietary fibres and other non-digestible molecules. The company’s new pilot plant system is able to reduce up to 80% of simple sugar in orange juice at a rate of up to 50 litres/hour. The non-GMO technology is designed to target the specific sugar composition in the orange juice to naturally create a low-calorie reduced-sugar product that has a delicate sweetness, without using any sweeteners or additives to replace the sugars in the juice.

Better Juice has signed collaboration agreements with many global juice producers, and aims to attain full industrial scale and supply to the market within a year, according to Eran Blachinsky, PhD, founder and CEO of Better Juice.

“Soon, you will be able to see natural juice beverages with more favourable Nutri-Scores,” Blachinsky said. Nutri-Score is a food label system that converts the nutritional value of products into a clear letter and colour code on the packaging in Europe.

“Juice and beverage manufacturers are increasingly aware of the need to reduce the sugar levels in their products before new labelling initiative goes into action. By using Better Juice technology, this will be easy to achieve,” Blachinsky said.

One of the challenges in continuous flow reduction of sugars in natural juices is keeping the process contamination-free, without damaging the enzymatic activity. Better Juice developed a device crafted from stainless steel, with aseptic fittings and welding, with a unique process that provides a continuous, safe flow for its enzymatic sugar-reduction process for weeks at a time, without interrupting the sterilisation stage.

Gali Yarom, Partner, COO and VP of Business Development for Better Juice, stated that the scale-up pilot plant is designed for smooth implementation into the standard procedures used by the juice industry.

“Better Juice’s new tech process is cost-effective by virtue of its ability to maintain the continuous flow stage. This is a key factor for beverage manufacturers seeking to affordably reduce sugars naturally while maintaining the juice quality and clean label attributes — a real game changer for the juice industry,” Yarom said.

Image credit: Better Juice