It claims the ingredient reduces sugar by up to 30% in cereals, snack bars, cakes and muffins with no effect on product quality.
Consumers select products perceived to be lower in sugar
Adrian Short, director, Ulrick & Short, told BakeryandSnacks it’s easy to replace sweetness with artificial sweeteners and natural sugar substitutes, but not the functionality of sugar.
“Elemis took approximately one year to develop but this was an extension of ongoing work of our knowledge of ingredients, mainly cereal extracts and how they function in bakery applications,” he said.
“The name comes from our ‘Synergie Clean label starch’ family and there are different Elemis specifications depending on the applications - so for example Elemis1 , Elemis10. We have no intention of selling into the same markets as Elemis beauty products, this is an ingredient - sold business to business.”
Breakfast cereals have been criticised in the past for their high sugar content. Volume sales for top cereal brands are up by 1.6% in the past year but value is down 3.4% – meaning the products have only retained their sales by cutting prices or offering promotions (The Grocer August 2015).
However, the bakery market in the UK alone is predicted to grow by 9% by 2020 (Innova Market Insights 2014) and given the choice, consumers will select products perceived to be lower in sugar if they are confident the taste will be unaffected.
“Elemis is available on the market now and we have actually made our first sale in the breakfast cereal market,” added Short.
Delyte fat reducers and replacers
“The feedback has been better than we thought. We have focused on the functionality of sugar in food rather than the sweetness, so we did expect that in some trials the reduction of sweetness would come through , but we are not finding that a problem.
“If sweetness, or lack of it is an issue that can be overcome with other natural ingredients. It is not the same as Stevia – that is used to replace the sweetness lost when you take all the sugar out, Synergie Elemis replaces the functionality of sugar not the sweetness.”
The British-owned starch specialist, recently launched a range of Delyte fat reducers and replacers, as a substitute ingredient for fats, including butter, oil and milk solids.
Delyte ingredients are suitable for products in bakery for cakes, ganache, fillings and icings; with sauces both sweet and savoury such as béchamel or caramel; for hot and cold dips and marinades; ice cream and chilled or frozen desserts.
Short said with its latest offering the company will turn the manufacture of baked goods and breakfast products on its head.
“Breakfast on the go is booming, up 13% over the last year, and bakery manufacturers are always looking for the latest development that will give them the edge in a crowded marketplace,” he added.
“Elemis is perfect for any number of cereal or bakery based products, from snack bars to buns – and those with fillings. We’re predicting big changes in these sectors and we’re confident our ingredients will play a key part in the revolution.”