Food & Specialty Ingredients

Natural Polyols

Sugar polyols (sugar alcohols) are a class of specialty sweeteners typically produced from natural raw materials, often by chemical hydrogenation. The demand for these sweeteners is on the rise because of their unique health properties and growing demand in products such as gum and other sugar-free confectionary products. zuChem is ready to meet that rising demand with an fermentative approach that produces natural product from abundant, renewable feedstocks.

Mannitol

• Mannitol is about 50% as sweet as sucrose and has a desirable cooling effect, often used to mask bitter tastes.  Mannitol is used in hard and soft candies, flavored jam and jelly spreads, confections and frostings, chewing gum and cough drops.
• The proprietary zuChem bioprocess was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and produces mannitol from an inexpensive mix of glucose and fructose. The process is FDA-approved, has been tested at pilot scale, and is now ready for commercialization.

Xylitol

• Xylitol is a naturally occurring sugar polyol present in small amounts in fruits and vegetables. It’s sweetening property matches that of sucrose, but with one-third less calories. It has a number of applications as sugar substitute for food processing industry:
  • Xylitol produces of cooling sensation in mouth and this property makes it desirable in certain food products, especially beverages and gums.
  • Xylitol can prevent dental cavities, making it the best nutritive sugar substitute for mouthwashes and toothpaste.
  • Xylitol is easily metabolized (independently of insulin) and is an idea sweetner for diabetic foods.
• zuChem’s proprietary bioprocess to make xylitol was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, University of Illinois, and Biotechnology Research and Development Corporation. This process effectively produces xylitol at high yields from hemicellulose waste streams from a variety of agricultural and forestry feedstocks (corn, sugar cane bagasse, hard and softwoods, etc). The process is currently in pilot scale and is available for license.

zuChem is also in the process of developing KidSweet^TM for use in a variety of applications.