DouxMatok’s Incredo Sugar now available through Batory Foods

Dive Brief:

• DouxMatok’s Incredo Sugar will be a part of Batory Foods’ ingredients portfolio and available to manufacturers in North America. Incredo Sugar is derived from traditional refined sugar, but requires about 50% less for the same level of sweetness.
• Batory said that it will start out carrying Incredo Sugar labeled as cane sugar, suitable for baked goods, chocolates, spreads and protein bars. Batory did not disclose pricing, but said that Incredo Sugar is one of the most cost-efficient sugar reduction solutions available, and using the ingredient would drive a 10% to 15% cost increase. 
• This is DouxMatok’s second ingredient partnership in the United States. In January, the Israel-based sugar reduction company announced a partnership with Blommer Chocolate Company to produce less-sugar chocolate chips. The partnership broadened last month, with Blommer offering chocolate and confectionery coatings made with Incredo Sugar.

Dive Insight:

This is the announcement that those watching DouxMatok have been waiting for. Incredo Sugar, which tastes, sweetens and behaves just like refined sugar, for the most part, is finally available.

The company, which started in 2014, has been stepping closer to commercialization in the United States in recent years. In 2020, DouxMatok announced its manufacturing agreement with Lantic, a company owned by Canada’s largest sugar refiner. The first U.S. product made with Incredo Sugar, DouxMatok’s sweet and chocolatey Incredo Spreads, hit the market last April. In September, DouxMatok announced a partnership with Hi-Food, which makes a semi-solid and tasteless bulking ingredient — a necessity for the sweetener to be used in place of traditional sugar, since it takes less of Incredo to be as sweet, and traditional sugar has significant structural properties in food.

As nearly three in four U.S. consumers are trying to avoid or limit their consumption of sugars, according to the International Food Information Council’s 2022 Food and Health Survey, healthier sweeteners are certainly in demand. The same report states that 31% of consumers prefer sugar to no- or low-calorie sweeteners, so a solution that is both healthier and no-low calorie could likely satisfy a wide swath of consumers.

“Adding an innovative solution like Incredo Sugar to our portfolio of ingredients provides an excellent opportunity for us to keep up with growing demands of both consumers and food brands looking for products that are both indulgent and deliver on nutrition,” Batory Foods President Vince Pinneri said in a written statement. “Another major advantage that we see in Incredo Sugar is that supply is not limited.”

Batory Foods, which started out as a sugar company in 1979 and has expanded into a wide variety of ingredients for nutrition, function and taste throughout the last four decades, has recently been active in the sweetener category. Last month, it acquired Sweetener Solutions, a Georgia-based company that is an expert in custom sweetener formulation, precision blending and specialty portion packaging. Considering that it takes careful formulation for Incredo Sugar to be used in a product — especially in the case of reformulations, in which changes should be as undetectable as possible to consumers — Batory’s newly acquired capabilities will come in handy for this partnership.