Baking & Snack - March 2015 - 53

FORMULATION
Sugar Sparing

in form and function
As sugar continues to face bad publicity,
bakers attempt to reduce the amounts they
use without impacting taste and structure.

the bulk and the functionality it provides." The best way
to tackle this conundrum, she suggested, was working
closely with a supplier to find a systems approach that delivers all that functionality and flavor while still meeting
the baker's goals.

by Charlotte Atchley

Flavor comes first

Sugar has gotten a bad rap. Consumers hold it responsible for the obesity crisis as well as diseases such as
diabetes. Just like fat and carbohydrates before it, sugar
is facing down negative reviews, and the food industry
must decide how to handle it.
The US's obesity issue has the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) considering a proposal that
would revise the current Nutrition Facts panel to add a
line detailing the "added sugar" in the product.
The potential for this added sugar label could pose
some problems, particularly for the baking industry. "The
key issue the bakers have is, there is no approved analytical method for measuring added sugar, and it gets more
complicated for bakery products because of the fermentation process," said Lee Sanders, senior vice-president,
government relations and public affairs, American Bakers
Association (ABA). "What you put in isn't necessarily
what you get out."
Bakers looking to slash sugar in the hopes of winning
over those consumers will face a challenge not just of
taste but also of functionality. "Sugar is marvelous at what
it does," said Melanie Goulson, sweetener applications
leader, Cargill, Wayzata, MN. "There is no other single ingredient that does everything sugar does: the sweetness,

As a high-potency sweetener
with clean-label credibility,
stevia can be paired with functional sweetener replacers to
mimic the taste of sugar.
iStock

The main fear when reducing sugar is a loss of sweetness. "Sugar does a lot of things in bakery, but primarily
it provides sweetness," said Eric Shinsato, senior project
leader, Ingredion, Westchester, IL. "That is the first thing
you will notice if you take it out or reduce it and don't
replace it with something equally sweet."
Today's portfolio of ingredients, however, can be combined to form a replacement system that will ensure the
sweet flavor mimics that of the original formulation.
Chicory root fiber, for example, can be paired with
artificial sweeteners to mask off-flavors or with stevia to bring the taste profile in line with sugar, according to Scott Turowski, technical sales manager,
Sensus Americas, Lawrenceville, NJ. "A lot of companies manufacturing stevia are using chicory root fiber
in combination to achieve the taste profile they want,
and they're still able to have a natural clean-label product," he said. "If there's any sort of artificial sweeteners,
chicory root fiber can mask those in the most extreme
cases of sugar reduction."
With its recent acquisition of Wild Flavors, ADM,
Decatur, IL, now has a Wild Flavors & Specialty
Ingredients division that offers bakers a line of sweetness modifier flavors. These ingredients are not sweetener alternatives but are natural flavors that magnify

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Baking & Snack - March 2015

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