China News Service, December 15th (Zuo Yuqing, Zhongxin Finance and Economics) As consumers' health awareness continues to increase, "sugar reduction" has gradually become a consumer consensus.
Driven by this wave, major companies are scrambling to introduce new products, and the food and beverage industry has set off an upsurge in low-sugar and sugar-free consumption, which has also fueled the sugar substitute market.
According to the "White Paper on Sugar Reduction Action for Beverages and Foods in Healthy China (2021)", in the global sugar and sweetener market, sucrose accounts for 78%, fructose syrup accounts for 12%, artificial sweeteners account for 9%, and other sweeteners account for 9%. agent accounted for 1%.
From 2015 to 2020, the sucrose content of soft drinks launched in major regions of the world shows a downward trend, and there is a lot of room for sweeteners to replace sugar.
Wu Jing, executive deputy director of the State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology at Jiangnan University, pointed out that the demand for natural sweeteners is currently in a stage of rapid growth.
Compared with traditional artificial sugar substitutes, natural sugar substitutes have the characteristics of good solubility, good taste and high stability, and are safer than artificial sugar substitutes. They can be widely used in various foods and have great development and application prospects.
Among them, erythritol can be described as a star sugar substitute for tea drinks. From 2015 to 2021, the production of erythritol in my country has been greatly developed.
"The sweetness of erythritol is about 70% of that of sucrose. It is very low in calories and very close to the sweetness of sucrose. It is relatively cool and has no after-bitterness." Wu Jing said.
Yuanqi Forest announced on the 15th that it plans to fully launch the 0-sugar version of iced tea in 2023, which uses erythritol instead of sugar.
In addition, the reduced-sugar version of iced tea launched at the same time has 25% less sugar than the classic flavor.
According to Hao Jia, a researcher at the Yuanqi Forest Sugar Reduction Health Research Institute, in the previous blind taste test of users, the new iced tea with zero sugar was more popular.
As a beverage with a long history, the iced tea targeted by natural sugar substitutes has been sold in my country for nearly 20 years. It is the only product that occupies a category with one taste, so it is called "super single product". , there are quite a few regular consumers.
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