Science behind sugar reduction; Brisk growth for U.S. coffee outlets

Science behind sugar reduction
Sugar has come under increasing public scrutiny from policy makers and consumers due to its caloric contribution to the diet and the rise of overweight and obese populations of children and adults throughout the world. This has led the food industry to partially or fully replace sugar with nonnutritive and low-calorie sweeteners in many foods and beverages. However, this switch is not a simple formulation change due to potential differences in taste, sweetness intensity and duration, loss of functionality (e.g., texture), and consumer concerns about the safety of alternative sweeteners.

To assist researchers and product developers in understanding the science and technology in formulating with reduced sugar and alternative sweeteners, IFT has compiled 13 review papers and studies from its peer-reviewed scientific journals in a special web section on Sugar Reduction.

The articles discuss sugar’s role in product formulation, molecular mechanisms of sweet taste, the safety of sugar substitutes, taste optimization using sweetener blends, novel production methods of low-calorie sweeteners, stability of low-calorie sweeteners, and sensory characteristics of various sweeteners.

Click here to view the articles.

Brisk growth for U.S. coffee outlets
U.S. residents in need of a steaming cup of java typically don’t have far to go to find one, according to the findings from a recent restaurant census conducted by The NPD Group, an information company.

NPD reports that the number of chain coffee shop units surged by 5.9% over the past year to a total of 18,445 units. The number of independent coffee shop units declined by 2.2%, however, to a total of 14,684 units. Overall, there are 33,129 gourmet coffee shops in the United States, an increase of 2% over last year. The total number of coffee shops increased by 2,990 units over the past five years, according to NPD’s Spring 2017 ReCount restaurant census.

Perhaps not surprisingly, two cities in Alaska lead the list of cities with the most coffee outlets per capita—Juneau is No. 1 with 22 coffee shops serving the city’s population of 32,519, and Anchorage is No. 2 with 170 coffee shops for a population of 431,231. Other cities with the most coffee shops per capita are (in rank order) Bend, Ore.; Seattle, Wash.; and Portland, Ore.

According to NPD, consumer demand for foodservice coffee appears to align with access to it. Consumers ordered 8.3 billion servings of coffee at U.S. restaurants and foodservice outlets in the year ending August 2017, up 2.3% from the same period a year earlier. Regular coffee remains the most popular offering with about 4.4 billion servings ordered in that time period.

“Coffee chains are expanding units to meet consumer demand because they have the resources to do so,” said Greg Starzynski, director-product management, NPD Foodservice. “Greater consumer access to chain coffee shops makes it more difficult for independent coffee shops to compete, which is why we’re seeing a drop in independent units.”

Exploring the nutritional value of spent grain
Spent grain, a major brewing industry byproduct, is generated in large quantities annually. A review article on “Composition and Nutrient Value Proposition of Brewers Spent Grain” published in the October issue of the Journal of Food Science summarizes research into the composition and preservation of brewers spent grain (BSG), different extraction techniques for BSG proteins and phenolic acids, and the bioactivities of these phenolic components.

The review also highlights BSG integration into foodstuffs for human consumption and animal feed supplements. BSG is considered a rich source of fiber, protein, and phenolic compounds. The phenolic acids present in BSG are hydroxycinnamic acids (ferulic, p-coumaric, and caffeic acids), which have many biofunctions, such as antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antiatherogenic, and anti-inflammatory activities.

Previously, attempts have been made to integrate BSG into human food, such as ready-to-eat snacks, cookies, and bread, to increase fiber and protein contents. The addition of BSG to animal feed leads to increased milk yields, higher fat contents in milk, and is a good source of essential amino acids. Therefore, many studies have concluded that integrating the biofunctional compounds in BSG into human food and animal feed has various health benefits.

Soft drink sales drop after tax
Following the introduction of a £0.10 per-beverage levy on sugar-sweetened beverages and supporting activity including beverage menu redesign, sugar-sweetened beverage sales declined about 10% at celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Italian restaurant chain in the United Kingdom, according to a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The researchers used an interrupted time series design to quantify changes in sales of nonalcoholic beverages 12 weeks and six months after implementation of the levy, using itemized electronic point of sale data. The main outcomes were the number of sugar-sweetened beverages and other nonalcoholic beverages sold per customer. Linear regression and multilevel random effects models, adjusting for seasonality and clustering, were used to investigate changes in sugar-sweetened beverage sales across all 37 restaurants and by tertiles of baseline restaurant sugar-sweetened beverage sales per customer.

Compared with the pre-levy period, the number of sugar-sweetened beverages sold per customer declined by 11.0% at 12 weeks and 9.3% at six months. For non-levied beverages, sales per customer of children’s fruit juice declined by 34.7% at 12 weeks and 9.9% at six months. At six months, sales per customer of fruit juice increased by 21.8% but sales of diet cola declined 7.3% and bottled waters fell 6.5%.

The findings suggest that the introduction of a small levy on sugar-sweetened beverages combined with non-fiscal complementary activities is associated with declines in sugar-sweetened beverage sales when delivered at scale in a commercial restaurant setting. Further research evaluating such interventions in other restaurant settings, with a longer follow-up, is required to assess whether this is transferable, whether decreases in sales are sustained, and whether reductions in sales translate into reductions in sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and to explore whether changes differ by population subgroups.

FAO, EU team up on cutting waste
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the European Union (EU) have pledged to work closely to cut per capita food waste in half by 2030, a goal established under the new Sustainable Development Goals global agenda. EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis and FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva signed a letter of intent addressing the plans for collaboration on food waste reduction as well as reduction of the use of antimicrobials in agriculture.

“Food loss and waste represent an unacceptable, unethical, and immoral squandering of scarce resources and increase food insecurity, while antimicrobial resistance marks a grave social and economic burden. We are becoming more united, more efficient, and more strategic in how we tackle these issues, and as such, this agreement should be celebrated,” Andriukaitis stated at the time of the announcement earlier this fall.

Describing antimicrobial resistance as a global threat to humans and animals, da Silva said, “FAO’s vision is that antibiotics and other antimicrobials should be only used to cure disease and alleviate unnecessary suffering.” He added that “in no cases should they be used for growth promotion.”

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News Bites
AAK has added Emile Henein to its team in Edison, N.J.; he will manage AAK’s Special Nutrition Segment as business development manager.

Anhui Tiger Biotech Co. will begin vitamin C production at its new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Anhui, China, in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Biorigin has received the Gold Seal of the Brazilian GHG Protocol, a tool used to understand, quantify, and manage greenhouse gas emissions.

Kemin Industries has developed a meat handling guide to illustrate key aspects of the antioxidant mode of action and to share insights on oxidation.

Mars Food has opened a new North American headquarters on Goose Island in Chicago, a move that will bring 75 jobs to the city. The office, which features a living wall to boost air quality and a full kitchen at its center to encourage the staff to eat and cook healthy meals together, was relocated from Los Angeles.

Nellson, a nutrition bar and powder provider, has introduced a blog titled Nellson in Motion.

Nestlé Purina PetCare will open a factory and distribution center in Hartwell, Ga., creating up to 240 new jobs over the next five years.

Puratos has launched a Virtual Innovation Center to support its customers in the production of finished goods in the areas of bakery, patisserie, and chocolate. A virtual advisor offers customers 24/7 advice, and a recipe database provides formulation inspiration.

Private equity firm Riverside Co. will acquire Parker Products, a provider of inclusions and other specialty ingredients.

Taiyo’s Sunfiber, which is made from guar bean, is the first fiber and first stand-alone ingredient to become a Monash University Low FODMAP Certified product.