Healthy Futures: what’s next for sugar, salt & fat?

Understanding the opportunities and barriers to advancing reformulation

Professor Paul Berryman Director, Berryman Food Science Ltd

Thursday 20 November 2014

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Introduction to Paul Berryman

Agri-Food Consultancy Director Berryman Food Science UKTI Agri-tech Specialist Director SVA Ltd Expert witness

Academia Visiting Professor University of Reading School of Chemistry, Food & Pharmacy Helped establish the Food ATP

Food Industry CEO Leatherhead Food Research Director of Research Leatherhead - Regulatory, Science & Market Research - 1500 Food Industry Member Companies

Food Enforcement Head of Food Trading Standards Public Analyst Agricultural Analyst Port Analyst

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TV and Media

– Airline Meal 222

– Salt reduction

– Five-a-day

World’s Healthiest Meal!

Sugar, salt & fat - Drivers for change

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Feasibility of Reformulation

• Removing sugar, salt & fat will radically change many foods.

• What do you replace them with?

• What are the consequences of these changes on: – Processing

– Quality & safety

– Shelf-life

– Sensory (texture and flavour)

– Consumer acceptability

Sugar reduction

Why use sugar? • Sweetness • Suppress bitterness & acidity • Flavour enhancement • Texture & bulking • Enhance mouth-feel • Change freezing or boiling point • Natural preservative • Fermentation!

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Industry Options

• Reduce sugar gradually

• Replace with intense sweetener – Aspartame, Acesulphame-K, saccharin, stevia, sucralose

– Good for soft drinks

– May need warning label, legal limits, aftertastes, heat stability

• Replace with bulk sweetener – Sugars – dextrose, fructose, maltose – but fully caloric.

– Alcohols – xylitol, erythritol, sorbitol – but laxative, cooling effects

– Bulking agents – polydextrose, inulin – but low sweetness

Sugar-buster – Stevia

Use of artificial sweeteners • Latest kid on the block is Stevia • An extract from the leaves of the Stevia Plant • Marketed as a natural solution • Reduced calorie and non-bitter taste • Reformulation of soft drinks is key Government target

Fruit Flavour Gums

Ingredients:

Glucose Syrup, Sugar,

Modified Maize Starch, Gelatine, Water, Acids (Malic, Acetic),

Flavourings, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Glazing Agent (Carnauba

Wax), Colours (E104, E122, E129, E142).

Fruit Flavour Gums with Sugars and Sweeteners Ingredients:

Sugar, Polydextrose, Wheat Dextrin, Sweetener (Sorbitol),

Modified Maize Starch, Gelatine, Water, Acids (Malic, Acetic), Flavourings,

Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Glazing Agent (Carnauba Wax), Colours

(E104, E122, E129, E142).

Issue #1: Increased labelling…

325 Calories

per 100g

215 Calories

per 100g

Issue #2: More warnings…

“Important advice:

Reduced sugar sweets are made with sweeteners. If you eat too many it might temporarily cause you mild stomach ache or laxative effect. We really want you to enjoy these sweets, so we suggest you only eat a few at a time.”

Issue#3: Consumer views of sugar

1. Qualitative Research: Consumer awareness of sugar (4 focus groups of 8-10)

White sugar is refined and bad for you - I don’t have white in my house, I don’t like sugar interfered with, I want it to be natural! [OG]

The darker the sugar the less refined it is, it’s more natural and healthier for you - It’s like white and brown rice and bread, brown is better for you, or we perceive it to be, it’s what we are told [OG]

The sugar in fruit is ok – but you can’t have too much as that gets converted to fat! [OG]

Unhealthy – ok in small doses, but we tend to go over the top so that is a danger [YG]

Sugar is ok in moderation – you need it for energy, it’s better than artificial sweeteners, that’s addictive and gives you the runs! [YG]

2. Quantitative Research: Consumer understanding of sugar reduction claims (n=367)

Consumers expect % calorie reduction to equal % sugar reduction

Research conducted by Leatherhead Food Research, funded by British Sugar. Reference: Nutrition Bulletin, 2012, 37,121-130

Example: Breakfast Cereals

Energy per 100g = 371kcal Energy per 100g = 369kcal

Salt reduction

Why use salt? • Clean salty taste of sodium chloride • Flavour enhancer • Bitterness suppressor • Appearance • Texture • Processing aid • Natural preservative

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Industry Options

• Reduce salt gradually

• Use salt enhancer

• Use a salt substitute – Potassium chloride – Glutamate, lysine, ammonium chloride, mycoprotein – Salts of organic acids – Seaweed!

• Improve efficiency of salt

• See BRC/FDF report on salt reduction technologies – Independent report by Leatherhead Food Research – Downloaded over 1800 times since publication – http://www.brc.org.uk/downloads/Leatherhead_Salt_Research.pdf

Salt-buster – micro salt

Recent product from Tate & Lyle (Developed at University of Nottingham)

Issues with salt reduction

• Simple salt reduction may lead to consumer rejection

• Overall flavour is crucial – may need expensive spices & herbs

• Some replacers have bitter taste

• Some food categories pose challenges – cured meats, bread, cakes, puddings, snacks, cheese, pesto & canned fish

• UK DoH advises against use of Potassium salt replacers – based on dialysis patients - so perhaps needs revision?

• New products may need novel foods approval

• Nanotechnology

• Salt is a preservative so beware of food safety implications!

Fat Reduction

Why use fat? • Appearance (gloss, colour, opacity) • Mouthfeel – texture, consistency, melting profile,

lubrication • Carrier of other flavours • Structure • Flavour release modulator • Heat transfer • Non-sensory effects, e.g. satiety • Source of essential fatty acids, fat soluble vitamins

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Industry Options

• Limited applications for fat-based substitutes – Emulsifiers

– Caprenin

– Salatrin

– Olestra

• Reformulate with carb or protein replacers – Guar gum

– Polydextrose

– Starch

– Whey protein concentrate

Issues with fat reduction

• Structural, textural changes & stability – ooze oil!

• Appearance, gloss, opacity , colour changes

• Mouthfeel & oral breakdown changes

• Radical change in flavour release

• Not always significant calorie reduction

• Digestion issues!

• Some fats are healthy

• Type of fat is important – saturates, trans, mono and polyunsaturates

• No single solution

Fat-buster – WOW Emulsions

Reformulation progress in UK

http://www.fdf.org.uk/health-wellbeing/responsibilty-deal.aspx#item3

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Conclusions

• Sugar, salt & fat reduction has been adopted by food industry

• Some replacers give undesirable texture or taste at high levels – mixtures required

• It’s important to understand ingredient interactions and synergies

• Sensory perception, safety and quality are all significant

• Consumers misunderstand sugar reduction claims

• Reformulation techniques continue to develop

• Each product has its own technical challenges and solutions

• There is no one-size-fits-all solution!