Whey permeate helps meet demand for products with ‘no added sugar’ claim

Arla Foods Ingredients’ whey permeate Variolac is helping manufacturers adapt to Brazil’s new regulations on the labelling of sugar.

Manufacturers around the world are increasingly required to include ‘added sugar’ information on their product labels. This, alongside a growing consumer awareness about nutrition, has helped ‘no added sugar’ become the fastest-growing food and drink claim globally, rising 18% per year (Innova Market Insights, CAGR 2016-2021).

In Brazil, new food labelling regulations require producers to include front-of-pack warning signs to inform consumers about high levels of added sugar, saturated fats, and sodium. However, sugars that are naturally present in milk and dairy ingredients do not have to be highlighted.

The legislation officially comes into force in October 2022 but products already on the market will have until October 2023 to adapt existing recipes. Healthier eating is a growing trend in Brazil and “Taking better care of health” is the goal for 2022 most mentioned by Brazilians (66%) (Lightspeed/ Mintel, April 2021), while 51% of consumers say they are currently avoiding sugar.

Arla Foods Ingredients’ 100% dairy ingredient Variolac boosts the creaminess and milky flavour of products such as dairy beverages and desserts. It can also help manufacturers eliminate ‘added sugar’ completely from ingredient lists, and enable them to use ‘no added sugar’ claims4 as well as cleaning up labels by reducing the number of ingredients listed on-pack.

The company’s South America application team has prepared three recipes to highlight the benefits of using Variolac as a dairy solid modulator, and to demonstrate how its inclusion can allow ‘no added sugar’ claims. The new concepts are a fermented dairy beverage, a UHT beverage, and a UHT dessert.

Diego Pérez Márquez, regional technical support, Arla Foods Ingredients, South America, said: “Nutritional labelling helps consumers make conscious choices when purchasing food and drink for themselves and for their families. There is growing pressure ­– from regulators and from consumers – to reduce the amount of added sugar in products. With these new concepts manufacturers can meet Brazil’s recently introduced regulatory requirements and they can also apply the ‘no added sugar’ message, which can help capture the attention of new consumers.”

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