Example and Facts

Replacing HFCS or sugar with SucraSweet 200™

Example and Facts sheet

Sugar and/or high fructose corn syrup are in almost every food product. They make up the largest volume and the largest cost for food manufacturers. Sugar provides more than simple sweetness. Sugar also provides mouth-feel, texture, preservative (anti-microbial) qualities, browning and more. However, when replacing a portion of these sugars with a sweetener blend the customer is able to maintain taste parity with significantly reduced ingredient costs.

Step 1 – Determine how much HFCS (sugar) will be replaced

We almost always have success at 20-25% sugar replacement. Once the customer sees the cost savings and tastes the reformulated product, the customer may adjust sugar or HFCS replacement to higher percentages.

Note: It is much easier to build success in small steps than to ask the customer for a “do-over”. Recommend 20% as the starting point for sugar replacement.

EXAMPLE: If we have a dairy customer making flavored milks or a drink manufacturer making fruit drink in batches of 5,000 gallons, and they use 30% HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) in each batch, each batch contains 1,500 gallons of fructose (5,000 x .3 = 1,500). We want to replace 20% of the HFCS or 300 gallons of HFCS in each batch (1,500 x .2 = 300).

Step 2 – Determine how much “sugar solids” (dry pounds equivalent) is being replaced

If we are replacing granular sugar, then it is easy…it is pound-for-pound sugar solids. If HFCS is being replaced we need to convert liquid fructose into sugar solids or convert the brix into dry pounds equivalent.

Notes:

• · HFCS weighs 11.21 wet pounds per gallon




• · HFCS42 is .71 brix




• · HFCS55 is .77 brix

EXAMPLE: To replace 300 gallons of HFCS42 we convert 300 gallons of HFCS42 into sugar solids. 300 gallons of HFCS equals 3,363 wet pounds x .71 brix = 2,388 dry pounds equivalent (300 x 11.21 = 3,363 x .71 = 2,388).

Step 3 – Determine how much SucraSweet 200™ to use

2,388 dry pounds of sugar solids is the equivalent sweetness of 12 pounds of SucraSweet 200 (2,388 ÷ 200 = 11.94; = 11 pounds, 427 grams).

Notes:

• · 1 pound = 453.5924 grams (round up to 454 grams)




• · SucraSweet 200™ is 200 times the sweetness of sugar




• · The MSRP for SucraSweet 200™ is $15.00 per lb FOB Savannah, GA




• · In some instances we use other blended sweeteners for sugar replacement, but SucraSweet 200 is our sugar replacement workhorse. It is the cheapest, best-tasting alternative for partial sugar replacement.




• · In Bakery applications, use the same process with BakeSweet™.

Step 3 – Determine the customer’s cost savings

EXAMPLE: The current delivered price for HFCS42 is $.24/lb (sugar is $.27/lb; both prices are reasonable, depending on volume and delivery). We removed 2,388 dry pounds of HFCS at $.24 per pound for a savings of $573.12 per batch (2,388 x $.24 = $573.12). The cost of the SucraSweet 200™ to replace the sweetness is $179.10 (2,388 ÷ 200 = 11.94 x $15 = $179.10). The customer will save $394.02 per batch ($573.12 – $179.10 = $394.02)

Notes:

• · The customer will usually save 50% of the cost the sugar or HFCS removed. In this example the customer saved 69%!










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