Isn't it time to reevaluate your color specs?
Change the Way You Think about Liquid Sugar: Color
Most industrial specifications for liquid sugar call for near water white liquid sugar that requires many energy intensive and environmentally unfriendly refining steps. CSC developed a Selective Separation Refining process that removes what you don't want (microbes, heavy metals and some color) and leaving everything else. This allows us to offer the industry an option to choose the least refined liquid sugar they can use without impacting the sensory aspects of their products.
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What are the benefits?
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Significant savings in energy and water use during production allowing for qualified sustainability claims.
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The small amount of color that remains behind is a good antioxidant (like most natural colors).
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Increased options for supply.
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Reduction in refining steps can offer cost savings.
How is cane sugar milled and refined?
Sugar cane is harvested and milled at the origin. Sugar cane only grows in warm climates. The sugar cane is brought to the mill where the outer stalks are removed, the cane is crushed, and various other separation processes result in raw sugar (color of 2000 ICUMSA and more), standard sugar (400-800 ICUMSA) or plantation white (150 ICUMSA). Raw sugar is sent by bulk transit to US refineries for further processing. Standard sugar is often sold locally for human consumption as is.
What is Color in Cane Sugar?
Color in sugar is a mixture of compounds that gives color to raw and refined sugars. They are made up of four major groups. The Phenolics occur naturally in the sugar cane plant. The Caramels, Melanoidins and the Alkaline Degradation Products are produced during the milling process.
Phenolics
The phenolics are the major contributors to sugar color. Many of these are yellow to brown and exist in the plant as non-colored compounds which are oxidized to a colored state during milling, either by enzymes or by chemical oxidation. This group also contains flavonoid compounds which have anti-oxidant properties.
Caramels
The caramels are formed by thermal degradation and condensation reactions of sugars. They represent a wide color range from yellow to brown. The longer the heat exposure, the greater the color.
Alkaline Degradation Products (ADPs)
These are similar to caramels, but much darker in color. They are formed by the degradation of fructose under basic conditions that commonly exist during the milling of sugar.
Melanoidins
Melanoidins form as a result of Maillard reaction products of amino acids with reducing sugars. These dark brown components are often high molecular weight.
Will Darker Color Make My Product Look or Taste Different?
Some of the color components in sugar, such as caramels and melanoidins are responsible for the flavor notes in darker sugars (ICUMSA over 1000) In dairy products, such as ice cream, yogurt, and dairy based beverages, 35ORBU color liquid sugar has shown no significant difference in color and flavor compared to the old industry standard of 35RBU.
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From our experience, even the lightest food products can take 150RBU without any significant difference in color or flavor. it has been a long time myth that color needs to be below that number. Most food companies have figured that out resulting in quick modification to standards for cost and energy savings.
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Why does this ingredient specification still exists?
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Good question. Beet sugar comes from sugar beets (northern climates). Beet refining is a completely different process than for a can and the output is always low color. In order to maintain market share, it is important for the beet refiners and the traditional cane refiners to tell their customers to maintain a low ICUMSA/RBU specification. innovative companies have quickly changed.