Monk fruit juice an option for sugar-reduction

Monk fruit juice may have sugar-reducing applications in baking and low-sugar dessert production. Monk Fruit Corp., the monk fruit company, announced its launch of its new Sweet-Delicious™ monk fruit juice at IFT 2015 in Chicago.

“Sweet-Delicious™ monk fruit juice really is a new way of reducing sugar and calories,” stated David Thorrold, general manager sales and marketing for Monk Fruit Corp in a press release. “Today, formulators have a toolkit that consists of high-intensity sweeteners, sugar alcohols and low-calorie sugars, but all these products come with limitations and challenges. Sweet-Delicious™ isa truly unique ingredient because it offers great-tasting low-calorie sweetness from a fruit juice. Using Sweet-Delicious™monk fruit juice, formulators can significantly reduce or replace added sugar, and achieve a clean-label with a consumer-friendly, simple fruit juice ingredient.

“When you consider the evolving consumer perceptions aroundnatural, Sweet-Delicious™ monk fruit juice isa compelling alternative for sugar and calorie reduction.”Initial reaction from customers has been encouraging. “We introduced Sweet-Delicious™ to a limited number of customers to get some feedback ahead of a general launch and we’ve already seen some new products incorporating monk fruit juice from these companies,”added Thorrold.

Along with product launches in the US and China, two New Zealand companies have been early adopters of the ingredient. Also working with monk fruit juice in New Zealand is Auckland-based cereal and product development company Smartfoods, owners of the well-known Vogel’s cereal brand. “We have worked with the usual natural high intensity sweeteners, but monk fruit juice concentrate has outperformed the alternatives in terms of taste while also offering a very consumer-friendly ingredient label,” said King Chok, innovation and product development manager with Smartfoods in the same release.

“Because of these benefits we have incorporated monk fruit juice in a new product formulation that we have just completed for a major Australian supermarket chain. ”According to the company Sweet-Delicious™ monk fruit juice is a true fruit juice manufactured strictly in accordance with WHO Codex regulations for fruit juice processing. Sweet-Delicious™ monk fruit juice is GRAS in the US, and has been declared a traditional food by FSANZ in Australia and New Zealand where it can be used in all foods and beverages. It is also considered a traditional food in China and most of East and South-East Asia.

“We expect within two years that we will have regulatory approvals and product introductions covering over 5 billion consumers, and that within 3 years this will extend to around 75 per cent of the world’s population,” stated Thorrold. ”With a compelling, uniquely differentiated value proposition, we believe monk fruit juice has a bright future as a global solution for sugar and calorie reduction.