HealthTech Bio Actives (HTBA) is rewriting the rulebook for calorie-reduced foods and beverages.

Ahead of the upcoming IFT FIRST expo in Chicago, the citrus flavonoids specialist has announced the launch of citrose, an Upcycled Certified high-intensity sweetener complex.

Derived entirely from natural citrus, the innovation aims to eliminate the bitter aftertastes and chemical-heavy labels traditionally associated with sugar alternatives.

The launch addresses a pressing industry dilemma. While 76% of global consumers want to limit their daily sugar intake, 85% of shoppers refuse to compromise on taste and texture. This challenge has intensified with the rise of GLP-1 weight-loss medications, as users report a heightened sensitivity to artificial off-notes and synthetic chemical tastes. Citrose solves this by offering a clean, authentic sweetness that is several hundred times sweeter than sugar without lingering artificial aftertastes.

Upcycled citrus with a consumer-friendly label

What sets citrose apart from synthetic sweeteners is its completely natural, circular origin story. The patented complex is derived from immature Citrus aurantium fruits that naturally drop to the ground before harvesting. HTBA collects, sun-dries, and processes these discarded fruits using proprietary methods.

Because of this sustainable sourcing, the ingredient has earned Upcycled Certified status. Furthermore, manufacturers in the US can print “citrose” directly on packaging ingredient lists. This provides an easily recognisable, consumer-friendly common name that contrasts sharply with complex, industrial-sounding sweetener components like acesulfame-K or aspartame.

Outperforming traditional sweeteners in sensory tests

In consumer trials, citrose consistently outperformed legacy high-intensity sweeteners. Shoppers rated the ingredient favorably against stevia for its overall naturalness while scoring it significantly higher for authentic taste profile delivery.

For food scientists and product developers, the sweetener behaves exceptionally well in multi-ingredient blends:

• With Stevia: blending citrose with stevia creates a flavour profile that consumers perceive as virtually identical to a classic stevia-sugar blend, rounding out stevia’s notorious lingering bitter notes.
• With Sucralose: Citrose-sucralose formulations earned top marks across critical taste attributes, accelerating sweetness onset and masking unwanted chemical off-notes.
• Functional loads: it recovers structural fullness and counteracts the unpleasant taste profiles commonly caused by heavy protein or vitamin loads in nutritional shakes.

Emily Wagener, global product manager for taste modulation at HTBA, explained the timing behind the ingredient’s debut: “Food and beverage manufacturers are under pressure to reduce sugar, but taste remains the deciding factor for consumers. Citrose can help producers to improve sweetness quality without the tradeoffs, which is why we’re incredibly excited to introduce this new offering to product developers, R&D teams, and procurement professionals attending IFT FIRST.”

HTBA will showcase citrose at IFT FIRST in Chicago this July, targeting product developers looking to clean up labels across beverages, dairy alternatives, baked goods, and sports nutrition powders. By delivering a complete, sugar-like taste profile through a sustainable, upcycled process, HTBA is positioning citrose as an essential tool for the next generation of healthy product formulation.