Better Juice scales up on sugar reduction tech for fruit juice
Better Juice Ltd, the first foodTech startup to develop innovative technology to reduce all types of sugars in orange juice, has announced that its patent-pending technology is now scaling up.
The startup is installing a semi-industrial pilot plant that also will be available for future testing at global partners’ plants. The pilot plant features the company’s sugar reduction process in a continuous flow technology that the company says ensures a consistent, safe, and effective enzymatic process.
Better Juice developed an enzymatic technology that uses all-natural ingredients to convert fructose, glucose, and sucrose into prebiotic dietary fibers and other non-digestible molecules. Better Juice’s new pilot plant system marks a significant milestone in the startup’s commercial scale-up timeline. It is able to reduce up to 80% of simple sugar in orange juice at a rate of up to 50 liters/hour. Better Juice’s non-GMO technology is designed to target the specific sugar composition in the orange juice to naturally create a low calorie reduced-sugar product that reportedly has a delicate sweetness. It is accomplished without using sweeteners or other additives to replace the sugars in the juice.
“We’ve signed collaboration agreements with several global juice producers so far,” revealed Eran Blachinsky, PhD, founder and CEO of Better Juice. “Our goal is to attain full industrial scale and supply to the market within a year. Soon, you will be able to see natural juice beverages with more favorable Nutri-Scores.”
“Juice and beverage manufacturers are increasingly aware of the need to reduce the sugar levels in their products before new labeling initiative goes into action,” added Blachinsky. “By using Better Juice technology, this will be easy to achieve.”
“The scale-up pilot plant is designed for smooth implementation into the standard procedures deployed by the juice industry,” explained Gali Yarom, partner, COO, and VP of Business Development for Better Juice.
“Better Juice’s new tech process is cost-effective by virtue of its ability to maintain the continuous flow stage,” added Yarom. “This is a key factor for beverage manufacturers seeking to affordably reduce sugars naturally while maintaining the juice quality and clean label attributes — a real game changer for the juice industry.”
