Project description
New desugarising juice technology
Natural sugars contained in fresh fruits and vegetables damage human health just as much as added sugars, according to recent research. The Better Juice technology proposes a low-cost method to eliminate natural sugars without affecting the taste and organoleptic properties of the product. The technology can be applied to existing production lines in the food and beverage industry with an estimated production cost of EUR 0.1 per litre of fruit/vegetable matrix. The EU-funded Better Juice project aims to design their industrial prototype after detailed market research to plan their certification procedure, business model and commercialisation strategy.
Objective
One of current challenges in Food and Beverage industry is linked with the need to reduce natural sugars. In fact, despite
initial enthusiasm for natural fruit juices, recent studies have demonstrated the natural sugars are as much harmful as added
sugars do. Thus, producers are focusing on the development of affordable and efficient technologies to deliver de-sugarized
products. However, to date no optimal industrial solution in this domain has been implemented. The BetterJuice technology
offers something that has not been reached yet by other companies. We reduce and even eliminate natural sugars from fruit
and vegetable matrix, without affecting the organoleptic skills of the product and even improving its taste. Calories reduction
is achieved to at least 50%. Moreover, we are able to offer a really healthy choice for consumers because beverages
produced with our technology are naturally enriched with bio-available and thus easily absorbable Calcium. The technology
does not require the modification of the existing production lines and its impact on the production costs has been assessed
at € 0,1 per 1 litre fruit/vegetable matrix. This low cost factor, along with the ascertained readiness of consumers to switch to
healthier hydration even if on higher price, offers the opportunity to producers to create novel product lines with appealing
claims and thus setting the price point that can significantly maximize their profit margins. The BetterJuice technology uses
disruptive bio-conversion approach delivered through enzymatic activity of food grade microorganisms. The technology is of
interest of some of world leading juice producers. Current project will enable us to collect users' requirements and thus to
properly engineer the industrial prototype of the device. Furthermore, a detailed market study will be done, so to verify and
validate the intended business model and commercialization strategy, as well as related certification path.
Fields of science
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringfibers
- engineering and technologyother engineering and technologiesfood technology
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturehorticulturefruit growing
- engineering and technologychemical engineeringseparation technologiesdesalinationreverse osmosis
- engineering and technologyindustrial biotechnologybioprocessing technologiesfermentation
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
7761003 ASHDOD
Israel
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.