B.T. Sweet has introduced Cambya, a plant-based sugar replacement for food applications designed to enable sugar-free products without significantly modified taste profiles or organoleptic qualities.
The formula, which contains soluble fibres, monk fruit, and select botanicals, is designed to replicate sugar both in body and taste, and is a source of beneficial fibres, the company claims. Additionally, the product can be applied without the need for masking agents and does not leave any lingering aftertastes.
“While natural sweeteners are gaining popularity, the tendency for some of them to give off a bitter lingering aftertaste limits their use,” said Gil de-Picciotto, co-inventor of B.T. Sweet. “Cambya applies a unique process to overcome these organoleptic challenges by targeting the hydrophobic sites on natural sweeteners, rendering them less accessible to flavor receptors. This, in turn, delivers sugar-like sweetening and bulking effect.”
The sweetening platform launch follows a three-year R&D campaign of mixing and matching fibres, natural sweeteners, and botanicals, and is designed to exhibit high solubility and blending capacity for easier formulation into food and beverage products with minimal processing.
“By design, our unique sweetening system embodies all the properties of table sugar in taste and texture, but actually contains zero added sucrose or artificial additives, and adds better-for-you attributes,” said Yoav Gaon, CEO and Business Development Manager of B.T. Sweet. “Our goal is to bridge the gap between consumers’ desire for indulgence and the drive to curb sugar intake. This solution also helps food and beverage makers reformulate their products, clean up labels, and remove undesirable “high sugar” warnings currently mandated in numerous countries.”
Four in ten consumers in Innova Market Insights’ global Health and Nutrition Survey in 2020 claimed to have decreased their sugar consumption throughout the period, with prevention of health conditions the leading reason, followed by weight management and dental health.
As consumers increasingly prioritise health and well-being, and with additional legislation and tax levies being placed on sugar, manufacturers are ways to reformulate products to reduce sugar loads.
Dagi Pekatch, Chair and founder, B.T. Sweet, said: “We have lab-tested our formulation in various confectionary applications, including ice cream and pudding, with very encouraging and mouthwatering results. Cambya will be produced in Europe and several CPG brands already are line-testing it.”
The product model allows manufacturers to completely switch to the sweetening system or balance it with standard sugar or other sweeteners, according to desired levels.
