Further under the public radar are savoury products such as ready meals and sauces, which, in their original form, can regularly contain as much sugar as sweeter tasting treats.
Now, a unique new sugar displacement product from leading British owned clean label ingredient specialist Ulrick & Short is set to revolutionise attitudes towards sugar content of savoury products for both consumers and manufacturers.
The company’s new ingredient, avanté, enables manufacturers to reduce sugar by up to 30% in a number of savoury applications – amongst other products – with no adverse effect on product quality, texture and mouthfeel.
Replacing sweetness is relatively straightforward with the use of artificial sweeteners and natural sugar substitutes, but replicating the functionality of sugar has always been more challenging - that’s where avanté comes in.
Ulrick & Short has invested significant time and expertise into proving the functionality and versatility of its sugar replacement ingredients in an extensive selection of popular foodstuffs, not least savoury sauces and ready meals.
The challenges relating to savoury applications are focused less on lightness and caramelisation, as in bakery, and more on the consistency of sauces and fillings, maintaining a superb texture alongside a credible gloss finish and enhanced flavours. In many regular savoury ready meals and sauces the sugar content has been increased to compensate for reduced fat content so it is vital to ensure that the replacement ingredients perform in exactly the same way, producing delicious products that are effectively indistinguishable from the original high-sugar versions.
Ulrick & Short Director, Adrian Short, explained: “During the last few years, targeting fat as the healthy eater’s nemesis unfortunately led to the increase of sugar content in many savoury foodstuffs – with the result that the majority of consumers think that they are selecting healthy alternatives; but, in reality, they are consuming far more sugar than is recommended by the UK Government and various other health authorities."
“Here at Ulrick & Short, we have the solution. Our sugar replacement range can provide a genuine, functionally credible alternative for food manufacturers that also fulfils all requirements for taste, texture and flavour. In fact, our replacement ingredients tend to enhance flavours and spices rather than mask them, providing an improved taste experience for the consumer. Coupled with our other ingredients such as fat replacers, proteins and fibres, we’re confident that food manufacturers have everything they need to provide consumers with healthier alternatives to their favourite foods.”
Ulrick & Short is the leading British-owned starch specialist, supplying household name food manufacturers across the world with naturally gluten-free non-GM ingredients, and innovating across a diverse range of food industry sectors including bakery, meat, dairy, soups and sauces.
The company has a team of dedicated sector specialists and food technologists based in Yorkshire and works hand in hand with customers to maximise value from product development.
