Beverage products entering the Middle Eastern market need to be clean label and low in sugar in order to gain a strong local foothold, with both regulatory pressure and consumer demand firmly pushing trends in this direction.
Experts have highlighted the need to balance functionality and taste to move healthy beverages into the mainstream in APAC, with some consensus that personalised nutrition, gut health, and mental wellness are set to become emerging growth areas.
Global food giant Kraft Heinz has revealed salt and sugar reduction projects for major markets such as China and Indonesia, with the firm stating its nutritional strategy is a key part of its regional sustainability commitments.
Hitting the right balance between the sourness of lactic acid bacteria and sweetness is the crux behind the development of Yakult’s latest launch in Singapore, says the firm’s managing director.
Swiftlet believes that developing everyday sugar-reduced food products such as snacks are a key gateway to integrate sugar reduction into APAC consumers’ daily diets.
Beverage giant Suntory believes that a focus on ‘forward-looking’ sugar reduction will remain crucial for firms to overcome the risk of sugar taxes and achieve significant, long-term growth in the region over the coming few years.
Major Australian beverage firms including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have increased their sugar reduction commitments for non-alcoholic beverage products in a further push to demonstrate the efficacy of industry-led initiatives over taxation.
Sugar reduction strategies can be an effective tool to cut production costs and lower prices whilst also satisfying Middle East consumer and government demand for healthier products, according to Tate & Lyle.
Major brands across the region are continuing to double down on their reformulation efforts across sugar, salt and fat reduction after COVID-19 led to a rapid increase in consumer awareness and demand for healthier products.
The global ingredients specialist has opened a $2m Technical Application Centre in Dubai, designed to help local producers in the bakery, dairy, beverage, sauce and dressing categories to develop formulations that address growing consumers demand in the...
Fruit product heavyweight Dole has revealed that it is focusing heavily on the use of new technologies and collaborations to overcome sugar reduction challenges for its packaged products portfolio, in hopes of reaching its 2025 zero processed sugar sustainability...
A Malaysian firm that built a niche for itself within the country’s billion-dollar sweetened condensed milk market as the first product of its kind to use stevia instead of sugar has now set its sights on a major expansion drive.
Singapore-based foodtech firm Nutrition Innovation is bringing its sugar reduction technology Nucane Life to Malaysia in partnership with local sugar giant CSR, offering local food manufacturers a clean label option for reformulation with added functional...
Stevia firm SweeGen is eyeing China as a major new market due to the local government’s Healthy China 2030 public health goal, which looks to significantly reduce sugar consumption in the country.
What’s hot and what’s not in the world of sweeteners? FoodNavigator-USA caught up with Icon Foods, Cargill and Beneo to explore formulation trends as brands remain under pressure to reduce sugar and keep labels clean.
The Singapore firm behind a brand of low fat and low sugar ice cream is now turning its attention to reducing sugar levels in Asian condiment and sauces.
Malaysia-based biotech firm Holista CollTech has developed a new sugar formulation which is more intense, low-calorie and low-GI in hope of helping F&B companies reformulate products more effectively, especially in Singapore and Malaysia where government...
Sugar reduction has caught up to become just as important as price promotion in the eyes of Singaporean consumers when it comes to making beverage purchases, according to a new report from Nielsen.
Legislations and government programmes to combat lifestyle diseases are driving demand for fibre-enriched products, reduced sugar and fat goods, and vegan dairy-alternatives across the Middle East.
Three years after Singapore officially launched its War on Diabetes campaign, with the aim of ‘mobilising the whole nation’ to tackle the condition, we assess how the food and beverage industry has been a key ally in the battle.
The Australian non-alcoholic beverage industry has been urged to ‘shift gears’ and up the ante in order to hit its 2025 sugar reduction pledge targets after its latest progress report revealed a ‘significant’ 7% reduction overall.
Consumer interest in sugar and calorie reduction is growing in the Middle East, but manufacturers are faced with the double challenge of maintaining sweetness and compensating for the loss of mouthfeel.
The combination of regulatory pressure in the form of taxes and greater health consciousness among consumers are driving global brands to adopt natural sweeteners, including stevia, according to PureCircle.
Nestle Australia is set to launch its new cane sugar-free Milo 30% Less Added Sugar next month after over two years of development – but consumers will getting less beverage for their buck due to higher production costs.
Coca-Cola Amatil has reported positive half-year 2018 volume sales in Australia led by its Coca-Cola No Sugar product, a feat its top official has attributed to the ongoing sugar reduction trend in the region.
Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has launched the ‘Fat, Sugar and Salt reduction Initiative in Qatar” to cut such content in food and beverages – both locally manufactured goods and those imported.
Food and beverage manufacturers in the Middle East, particularly the UAE and Saudi Arabia, are beginning to acknowledge the need to reformulate around sugar reduction, according to Tate and Lyle.
Global food and beverage manufacturers such as Kellogg's Arabia, Mars Saudi Arabia and Nestlé Middle East have signed a voluntary pledge with the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) that seeks to reduce sugar, salt and fat content in their products....
Bayn Europe is developing a new cloud-based reformulation tool that, its chief executive says, can help fix the “broken” food chain and heighten sugar-reduction efforts.
