Packaged Sugar

A new sweetener from Cerestar Food and Pharma Specialities will allow manufacturers of sugar-free candies to revolutionise packaging solutions.

A new sweetener from Cerestar Food and Pharma Specialities will allow manufacturers of sugar-free candies to revolutionise packaging solutions. C*Isomaltidex will enable confectioners to package hard candies without individual wrappings with no adverse effects on the stability, storage or non-stickiness of their sweets.

Michel Gonze of Cerestar s Application Centre Food and Pharma comments: Traditionally, sugar-free hard candies have had to be wrapped immediately to prevent them from absorbing moisture from the air. With the sweeteners that have been used in the past, loose candies quickly become sticky, congealing together and are unattractive to the consumer. C*Isomaltidex neatly avoids this problem with very low hygroscopicity (water absorption) to keep its original glass qualities. C*Isomaltidex is the new addition to Cerestar s range of polyols; non-cariogenic sweeteners derived from starches. It builds on benefits already seen in polyols such as maltitol, which offers a sugar-like taste with only 2.4 kcals/g but is prone to stickiness - and isomalt, which avoids stickiness but presents workability issues in the manufacturing process.

By combining maltitol with isomalt and hydrogenated oligosacharides, Cerestar has been able to take the beneficial properties of the different sweeteners and combine them into one. Gonze continues: C*Isomaltidex is ideal for manufacturers of hard candies who have to store their confectionery in hot and humid environments. If any part of the manufacturing, storage, delivery, sales or consumption process takes part in a warm country, then C*Isomatidex is the ideal way of preventing candies from spoiling without having to wrap them. Consumers don t want to have to unwrap a candy and then think about what they are going to do with the wrapper. Using Isomaltidex means that confectioners can give their customers exactly what they want fuss-free enjoyment of top-quality candies.