Natural sweetener for PepsiCo

PepsiCo sweetener

Patents filed separately by PepsiCo and Cargill, show that they are working on a new source of sweetener. The patents demonstrated they are exploring new sources of natural sweeteners from oats andmonatin, a naturally-occurring substance found in a plant grown in South Africa.

A patent search conducted by Leatherhead Food Research (LFR) during research for its new report on the global intense sweeteners market, reveals that PepsiCo's Quaker Oats division has developed a method of modifying oats using enzymes in order to derive a potent natural sweetener.

The application shows that Quaker has developed a method of producing a natural sweetener from oats that is "sufficiently sweet to allow it to be used as a supplement or replacement for sweeteners such as sucrose or sucrose substitutes, which are conventionally added to grain-based food products," Foodnavigator.com reports.

According to the patent application, published last year, Quaker is exploring a number of potential applications.

The method outlined in the application involves hydrolysing oats with an enzyme to obtain modified flour and then drying the flour to obtain a sweetener composition. Suitable raw materials include whole oat groats, oat flour, rolled oats, partially milled oats and oatmeal.

Cargill looks at sweetener

As well as PepsiCo looking at a alternative sweetener, so has the ingredients giant Cargill. They have filed an application to patent a novel sweetener comprising specific stereoisomers of monatin, a naturally occurring, high-intensity sweetener suitable for use in tabletop sweeteners as well as food and drink products.

Cargill claim that unlike some other intense sweeteners, monatin has no bitter metallic, acidic or astringent aftertaste. It is also more stable than aspartame, has a cleaner taste than saccharin, is sweeter thansucralose and does not have the 'liquorice' aftertaste sometimes associated with stevia-based sweeteners, adds the firm.

Jodie Humphries

Jodie Humphries graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA Hons in Creative Writing in 2008. She has worked for GDS Publishing for the digital group since July 2009. She has previous experience with writing for the web, running her own website since April 2007.

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