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TOP promotes sugar replacement alternatives

2 May 2018

After extensive research TOP says it has found smart, healthy and tasty formulas in which sugar can be completely replaced, while the microbiological safety as well as the taste of the product are preserved.

Due to increasing pressure from social organizations and changing consumer behaviour, food producers are trying to reduce the sugar content in their products. But sugars often have more than one function, notes TOP from Wageningen in The Netherlands, who say they offer several solutions to enable the reduction of sugar.

At the start of this month the Diabetes Fund started the Sugar Recall Action, in which consumers can send a signal to the food industry by ‘recalling’ a product with an unnecessary high sugar content. For a long time now Foodwatch has pointed out products with ‘unnecessary’ addition of sugars, and in several countries the industry is forced to take measures by a sugar tax.

However, sugar has an important function in many of these products. Sugar can mask sour tastes or increase the volume, but it can also reduce the water activity, thus increasing the food safety of the product. Simply removing the sugar from a product can lead to the product having less taste or even becoming unsafe. Until recently there was no viable alternative for the industry.

After extensive research TOP says it has found smart, healthy and tasty formulas in which sugar can be completely replaced, while the microbiological safety as well as the taste of the product are preserved. Many tests show that this formula is suitable for practically all sugar containing products.