Ingredion leads investment round to accelerate start-up’s advanced technology for naturally reducing sugar
FoodTech start-up Better Juice, Ltd., announced its collaboration with Ingredion, Inc., a leading global provider of specialty ingredients to the food and beverage industry. Ingredion Ventures, Ingredion’s venture investment arm, will lead the Series A funding round for Better Juice which will fast-track penetration of its breakthrough sugar reduction solution into the US juice market.
Better Juice’s innovative sugar reduction technology removes simple sugars in juice-based beverages, concentrates and other natural sugar-containing liquids. The Company developed an enzymatic technology, which converts sugars into non-digestible compounds, such as dietary fibers and non-digestible sugars, while maintaining the natural profile of vitamins, minerals and organic acids in the final product.
“This important partnership step is truly exciting,” enthuses Gali Yarom, co-founder and co-CEO of Better Juice. “It dovetails perfectly with the Better Juice strategy to penetrate the North American market. Ingredion was impressed by our non-GMO technology, and its uses in a wide variety of applications. This move will open doors to leading food and beverage companies seeking sugar-reduction solutions for their products.”
“The Better Juice technology adds a completely new dimension to our portfolio of sugar reduction solutions for food and beverage brands on a mission to meet increased consumer demand for less sugar,” says Nate Yates, Sugar Reduction Business Leader at Ingredion. “This technology also provides manufacturers with more options to successfully reduce sugar without compromising on great taste or nutrition.”
Clean-label conversion
The environmentally friendly clean-label conversion process applies proprietary beads composed of non-GMO microorganisms which produce enzymes. These enzymes convert the juice’s composition of fruit sugars including sucrose, glucose, and fructose into better-for-you prebiotic fibers and other non-digestible molecules. This enables sugar reduction by 30 to 80 percent.
“This alliance will accelerate our go-to-market journey,” explains Eran Blachinsky, PhD, co-founder and co-CEO of Better Juice. “Ingredion’s capital support will allow us to extend the technology to other liquids with natural sources of sugar, such as milk, beer, and wine.”
This achievement follows Better Juice’s well-established partnership with GEA Group, one of the largest suppliers of food processing technology.
Better Juice primed for commercialisation
Better Juice’s solution has successfully advanced to commercial scale in the U.S. In recent years, it demonstrated its full proof of concept in collaboration with juice manufacturers in the U.S. and Asia. These companies are now poised to progress to the next stage of commercialisation. Better Juice is now fully prepped for market entry, with a capacity to process 250 million liters of sugar reduced juice per year.
Since 2022, the groundbreaking GEA Better Juice Sugar Converter Skid is included in GEA’s test center in Ahaus, Germany. Better Juice collaborates with GEA for manufacturing the bioreactor, and together they install the technology in customers’ facilities.
“Better Juice has achieved important milestones in the past two years and has positioned itself as the leading company for reducing simple sugars from natural sources,” notes Amir Zaidman, VP of The Kitchen Hub. “The timing is perfect for serving the rapidly expanding trend of consumers striving to cut down on simple sugars in their diet.”
About Ingredion
Ingredion, Inc. (NYSE: INGR), headquartered in the suburbs of Chicago, is a leading global ingredient solutions provider serving customers in more than 120 countries. With 2022 annual net sales of nearly $8 billion, the company turns grains, fruits, vegetables, and other plant-based materials into value-added ingredient solutions for the food, beverage, animal nutrition, brewing, and industrial markets. With Ingredion Idea Labs® innovation centers located around the world, and approximately 12,000 employees, Ingredion co-creates with customers to fulfill its mission of bringing the potential of people, nature, and technology together to make life better.
On November 2, 2023 the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) proposed to revoke the regulation authorising the use of brominated vegetable oil (BVO) in food. The FDA conducted studies that clearly show adverse health effects in animals in levels more closely approximating real-world exposure. Therefore, the FDA can no longer conclude that this use of BVO in food is safe.
The studies were conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’(NIEHS) Division of Translational Toxicology (formerly the Division of the National Toxicology Program), to assess unresolved toxicological questions. Results from these studies demonstrate bioaccumulation of bromine and toxic effects on the thyroid – a gland that produces hormones that play a key role in regulating blood pressure, body temperature, heart rate, metabolism and the reaction of the body to other hormones.
BVO is a vegetable oil that is modified with bromine. As authorised, it is used in small amounts, not to exceed 15 parts per million, as a stabiliser for fruit flavouring in beverages to keep the citrus flavouring from floating to the top. When used, BVO is required to be listed as an ingredient on the label as “brominated vegetable oil” or as the specific oil that has been brominated, such as “brominated soybean oil”.
Over time, many beverage makers have reformulated their products to replace BVO with an alternative ingredient. Today, few beverages in the US contain BVO.
The higher demand for orange juice from the United States raised the Brazilian exports of the commodity in the first two months of the 2023/24 exporting season (July and August). The average price paid for the national juice increased in that period too, influenced by low inventories and the lower output in Brazil. The higher volume exported and the valuation of the Brazilian juice abroad resulted in a significant increase in the revenue of exporters.
According to data from Secex (Foreign Trade Secretariat), Brazil exported 182.9 thousand tons of Frozen Concentrate Orange Juice (FCOJ) Equivalent in July and August, 4% more than the volume shipped in the same period of 2022. Revenue totaled USD 397.9 million, a staggering 20% up in the same comparison.
As for the types of juice exported, shipments of Not-From-Concentrate (NFC) orange juice increased 19 %, and revenue, 25 %; of FCOJ, the volume exported decreased 3 %, while the revenue rose 17 %. The different performances of the exports of these types of juice are linked to the higher demand from the US for NFC juice, whose volume sent to the North-American country rose a staggering 51 %.
The United States
For one more season, the US have been importing orange juice from Brazil. In the first two months of the current season (23/24), the US imported 50.5 thousand tons of FCOJ, an increase of 38 % compared to that in the same period of 2022/23. Revenue totaled USD 113.2 million, 57 % higher, in the same comparison.
Lower orange production in the US because of the 2022/23 crop of Florida – which has decreased 62 %, according to the USDA – and lower supply from Mexico, the second major supplier of orange juice to the US, led the country to raise imports from Brazil.
European Union
To the European Union, Brazil exported, in July and August, 112.6 thousand tons of orange juice, a slight 3 % up from that last season. Revenue totaled USD 241.9 million in the two first months of the season, 14 % higher, in the same comparison.
Crop Estimates
According to data released this week by Fundecitrus, the 2023/24 harvest in the citrus belt (São Paulo State + the Triângulo Mineiro) is expected at 309.34 million boxes of 40.8-kg each, stable compared to that estimated in May but 1.5 % lower than the output from last season. It is important to highlight that this volume is a lot lower than the industry’s needs to meet the demand from abroad and replenish inventories, which are currently very low.
As Chinese consumers are more focused on healthier beverages compared to their US counterparts, the country is witnessing a significant rise in consumer low-calorie soft drinks. Low-calorie soft drinks volumes increased at a triple-digit rate in China between 2019-2022, while the volumes grew by only 10 % in the US, finds GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
Global Data forecasts that in China, the volumes of low-calorie beverages will record a positive growth rate of 11.3 % in 2023, while in the US, it will be 2.2 %, albeit the US soft drinks market is much more mature and developed. The low-calorie market share in the soft drinks sector was 17 % in the US in 2022, while it was 2.4 % in China.
Dragos Dumitrachi, Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, comments: The carbonates category is the biggest winner regarding the growth of low-calorie beverages. Major brands such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi are continuing to invest in low-calorie variants and the trend is picking up globally. In China, low-calorie volumes are forecast to increase by 13.1 % in 2023, while the US will record a minimal 1.5 % rise in volume. “Since 2019, boosted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the health trend in the soft drinks sector has accelerated across the globe. In 2022, the world saw China and the US clash on multiple fronts. In the soft drinks consumer market, a similar opposing evolution scenario is taking place between the two countries.”
The carbonates category is the biggest winner regarding the growth of low-calorie beverages. Major brands such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi are continuing to invest in low-calorie variants and the trend is picking up globally. In China, low-calorie volumes are forecast to increase by 13.1 % in 2023, while the US will record a minimal 1.5 % rise in volume.
According to a recent GlobalData consumer survey*, when asked which feature consumers are actively looking for when making a purchase, a significantly higher proportion of Chinese consumers (49 %) said it is essential for the product to be good for physical fitness/health, while in the US, only 29 % find it essential.
Dumitrachi concludes: “This data shows that since the outbreak of the pandemic, whilst both markets show a high level of innovation towards low-calorie launches, Chinese consumers are more concerned about making informed health decisions within the beverage space in comparison to US consumers. Manufacturers in China and the US are set to increase the number of launches to capitalise on this trend throughout 2023.”
*GlobalData Q3 2022 Consumer Survey – China consisted of 532 respondents
The 2022/23 orange crop from Florida is expected to total 28 million boxes of 40.8 kilograms each, the lowest since 1935/36 and 32 % down from that last season, according to the estimates from the USDA.
However, the damages caused by hurricane Ian have not been considered yet. Thus, the recent report has concerned the agents in the citrus sector. The USDA’s next estimates are supposed to be released on Nov. 9th, however, the damages caused by hurricane Ian are not expected to be considered in that report yet, which is supposed to happen in the December’s report.
Thus, local agents believe Florida’s production will be at least 40 % lower than that forecast by the USDA. In 2017/18, when Florida was last hit by a hurricane (Irma), production decreased by 34.6 %, and agents agree that Ian was more destructive than Irma. Besides the damages caused to crops, warehouses and equipment were destroyed too.
In this context, the United States’ necessity of importing orange juice – which was already growing up – is expected to increase even more, which may raise Brazilian juice exports to the country. However, it is important to consider that supply has been low in Brazil, where ending stocks are forecast to be lower than the strategic level (of 250 thousand tons). In August, CitrusBR estimated the ending stocks in the 2022/23 Brazilian season (by June 2023) to total 140 thousand tons, considering higher exports to the USA – however, this increase did not consider the effects of hurricane Ian on Florida crops and production.
So far, imports are following opposite trends in the US, depending on the type of juice: for Not From Concentrate juice (NFC), imports are rising, while for Frozen Concentrate Orange Juice (FCOJ), they are fading. According to Florida’s Citrus Department, from October/21 to August/22, the US imported 9 % less FCOJ than that in the same period of the previous season; however, the imports of NFC juice increased by 43.9 %. On the other hand, ending stocks of both types decreased: 39.5 % for FCOJ and 25.3 % for NFC juice.
Brazil is the US’s major juice supplier. Considering FCOJ, 50.1 % of the total imported by the US in 2021/22 came from Brazil, which was followed by Mexico (42.4 %). Considering NFC juice, 78.6 % of the total imported came from Brazil, against 20.5 % from Mexico.
BRAZILIAN MARKET – The demand for oranges was low in the Brazilian market in the first fortnight of October. According to Cepea collaborators, the unstable weather (with rains and periods of lower temperatures) and the holiday on October 12 constrained consumption. Still, prices remained firm, majorly underpinned by the supply in the in natura market, which is being controlled. For tahiti lime, values faded, due to lower demand. But still, they continued at high levels.
Better Juice partners with GEA and US juice maker to commercialise reduced-sugar juices.
FoodTech start-up Better Juice, Ltd. sealed its first commercial deal to bring reduced-sugar juices one step closer to supermarket beverage aisles. The company inked an agreement with a major US fruit juice manufacturer for commercial installment of its sugar-reduction technology.
This is Better Juice’s first official commercial venture in its long-term collaboration with GEA Group, AG, Germany, a world leader in process engineering for the food and beverage sectors. The two companies joined forces in a strategic move to scale up and promote the sugar-reduction technology throughout the global beverage market.
Start-up receives patent and a self-affirmed GRAS approval
Better Juice was granted a patent for its sugar-reduction enzymatic process in Europe. Armed with recent self-affirmed GRAS status, the company is out to market its innovative system to food and beverage manufacturers worldwide. “These achievements, together with GEA’s knowhow and cutting-edge technology, will open doors to work more closely with food and beverage companies,” explains Eran Blachinsky, PhD, co-founder and co-CEO of Better Juice.
Better-Juice’s patented enzymatic technology uses all-natural ingredients to convert fructose, glucose, and sucrose sugars into prebiotic and other non-digestible fibers. The juice passes through a continuous flow bio-reactor housing non-GMO microorganism that transform the unwanted sugars into beneficial, non-digestible molecules. It boasts capabilities to reduce sugar loads by up to 80 %, while preserving the full complement of vitamins and other nutrients inherent in the fruit. The process moderates the sweetness of the juice, while intensifying the fruit flavour.
Sugar-reduced juices will line the shelves next year
Under the new venture, GEA will design, manufacture, and install the bioreactor that reduces sugars, and offer follow-up technical support. Better Juice will produce the microorganisms for the enzymatic process. According to the first commercial order, the fruit drinks manufacturer will produce natural juices with a minimum sugar reduction of 30 %, and anticipates the product to arrive in supermarkets by spring 2022.
“This new agreement marks an exciting milestone in our mission to get our sugar-reduction technology off the ground, to penetrate the US market, and to expand our global footprint,” enthuses Blachinsky. “We’ve officially launched our drive to help consumers enjoy reduce sugar in their favourite fruit juice.”
“Scaling up is always a challenge,” confesses Gali Yarom, co-founder and co-CEO of Better Juice. “But when your partner is GEA, with its vast industrial food processing capabilities and global presence, the acceleration of the Better Juice commercialisation is much faster and brings added value to the supply chain. Imagine—in just a few months, affordable, reduced-sugar fruit juice will be a ready option for American consumers.”
The equipment has been tested in GEA’s quality assurance facility in Germany and can be easily integrated into existing juice production lines, providing product at a capacity of up to 200 liter per hour. Total production capacity of reduced-sugar juices can be adjusted to the manufacturer’s needs.
“Better Juice has incredible potential to transform the global juice industry,” notes Colm O’Gorman, Head of Sales Management for GEA’s Global Technology Center for Non-Alcoholic Beverages. “As consumer demand for lowered-sugar beverages continues to surge, we are eager to join Better Juice on this momentous journey. We look forward to delivering products that address one of the top consumer needs of reducing their sugar intake, especially in daily beverages.”
Although energy drinks have witnessed steady year-on-year (YOY) growth in the US recently, Coca-Cola has decided to discontinue its Coca-Cola Energy brand after 17 months in the market, in a bid to sharpen its product portfolio – a move that highlights the gap in the market for hybrid innovations, writes GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
Holly Inglis, Beverages Analyst at GlobalData comments: “Coca-Cola Energy’s launch in the US was long awaited; despite the US market size, it was one of the latter markets to begin sales after many regions in Europe. At a time where the energy drinks market is flourishing, it is interesting that Coca-Cola has chosen to pause sales of a potential future cash cow.”
According to GlobalData, the US energy drinks market grew by 10 % in 2020* and was buoyed by a flurry of innovations such as Monster Mule ginger flavoured drink or Moonlight Wingman Smart Energy. Despite COVID-19 lockdown restrictions throughout the year, the category remained a key purchase choice for many consumers across the country.
In GlobalData’s latest survey, 73 %** of US consumers stated that energy boosting ingredients are nice to have, or essential to purchasing decisions. Interestingly, this comes at a time where health and wellness trends are prevailing and where energy drinks have, in the past, come under scrutiny for high sugar and unfavourable additive content. Manufacturers have worked to offset this by adding functional claims or unique flavour innovations to their beverages.
Inglis continues: “GlobalData’s survey found that 82 % of US consumers stated that immunity boosting ingredients have a positive influence on their purchasing decisions***, reinforcing that there is opportunity for beverage manufacturers to innovate energy drinks products that combine health and wellness claims with energy-boosting ingredients. The US energy drink market is highly competitive, so it is important that producers stay ahead of the curve in terms of beverage trends. It is plausible that Coca-Cola’s energy drink line risked falling behind in the long-term, due to a lack of flavour dynamics and health-halo claims.”
Despite COVID-19 restrictions across much of 2020, the US energy drinks market grew by a sizeable share and is expected to maintain a similar fate in 2021. Consumption from home is the new norm, and producers will continue to innovate retail offerings that promote this trend. Continued drive towards digestive health will persist, reflecting high potential for hybrid innovations that combine natural energy boosting ingredients with added vitamins and gut health claims.
*Data taken from GlobalData’s Annual Soft Market Analyser – US
**GlobalData’s Q1-21 Consumer Survey Results – North America
***GlobalData’s Q1-21 Consumer Survey Results – North America – Combined responses: “Essential / Key driver of purchase” and “It is nice to have”
Completition of wind power transition advances Company’s global operations to 27.5 % renewable electricity, aligns with Twentyby30 and RE100 commitments
Crown Holdings, Inc. is now operating all 14 of its beverage can plants in the U.S. and Canada on renewable energy. It is the first metal packaging manufacturer to achieve this milestone, which is the result of a 15-year wind power Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) with Longroad Energy. With the VPPA in effect and all of Crown’s manufacturing facilities in the U.K. already completing a similar transition, 27.5 % of the Company’s global operations are now using renewable electricity.
This accelerated usage of alternative power sources serves as a major step in Crown’s plan to employ 60 % renewable electricity by 2030, 90 % by 2040 and 100 % by 2050—targets established in Crown’s Twentyby30 initiative, a comprehensive sustainability program that addresses climate issues among other areas of urgent global concern. The action also supports Crown’s Twentyby30 goal to decrease Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within its global operations, targeting a 50 % combined reduction in absolute Scope 1 (fuel) and Scope 2 (electricity) emissions. The transition reflects Crown’s commitment to the RE100, which is led by The Climate Group and CDP and focuses on accelerating the transition to zero carbon grids at global scale.
Relying on a Texas-based wind farm, the VPPA generates more than 440,000 MWhs of electricity, helping prevent over 310,000 metric tons of carbon emissions each year—the equivalent to taking at least 67,000 passenger vehicles off the road for one year. The renewable power offsets 100 % of the energy usage within Crown’s U.S. and Canadian beverage plants, which account for over 20 % of the Company’s global Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions.
Global Cold Pressed Juice Market is estimated to grow at a substantial CAGR in the forecast period as the scope, product types, and its applications are increasing across the globe. Cold-pressed juice implies usage of a hydraulic press to extract juice from vegetables and fruit, different from further procedures such as single auger or centrifugal.
The factors that propel the growth of the Cold Pressed Juice Market include growing number of diabetic patients, fatness problems, growing dietary and health concerns among clinicians, Changing lifestyle, and beauty and detoxifying benefits offered by juice. On the other hand, the factors that may hamper the growth of the market include high price of cold pressed juice.
Cold Pressed Juice Market may be explored by nature, type, distribution channel, and geography. Cold Pressed Juice Market may be explored by nature as Conventional, and Organic. The “Organic” segment led the Cold Pressed Juice Market in 2018 and is anticipated to maintain its dominance by 2024. Cold Pressed Juice Market could be explored based on type as Mixed Fruits and Vegetables, Fruits, and Vegetables. The “Mixed fruits and vegetables” segment led the Cold Pressed Juice Market in 2018 and is anticipated to maintain its dominance by 2024 owing to high demand and rising concerns concerning numerous health issues.
Cold Pressed Juice Market could be explored based on distribution channel as Hyper/Super Market, Convenience Stores, Internet Selling, and Retail/Grocery Stores. The “Hyper/Super Market” segment led the Cold Pressed Juice Market in 2018 and is anticipated to maintain its dominance by 2024.
Cold Pressed Juice Market is categorized based on geography into North America, Latin America, Japan, Middle East and Africa, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, and Eastern Europe. Europe and North America accounted for the major share of the Cold Pressed Juice Market Size in 2018 and will continue to lead in the forecast period.
The key players contributing in the robust growth of the Cold Pressed Juice Market comprise Pressed Juicery, Evergreen Juices Inc., Suja Life, Liquiteria, PepsiCo Inc., Evolution Fresh, LLC, JustPressed, Hain BluePrint, Inc., Organic Avenue, Organic Press Juices, and Juice Generation. The leading companies are taking up partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures in order to boost the inorganic growth of the industry.
US markets are poised to achieve continuing growth as Cold Pressed Juice Markets support better nutrition.
An increasing number of diabetic patients, terrible obesity issues, and increasing nutritional and health concerns among clinicians are having an impact on the Cold Pressed Juice markets as people turn to good nutrition as a supplement to medications. Changing lifestyle impacts the market. The cold pressed juice market can be primarily divided into two broad categories: raw juices and HPP. The HPP is packaged in plastic.
Independent brands comprise a higher percentage than is usual for other markets. The cold pressed juice market is comprised in part of smaller stores and from sources that operate as small entities. In other markets it is usually the case that the known brands dominate a market. What is different here with cold pressed juices is that cold pressed juice is better when it is really fresh. This requirement mitigates against large company usual methodical, slow ways of working. It is even more difficult than the milk market when the juice is not pasteurized.
A USD 4.3 billion market in the US in 2017 is expected to reach USD 8.1 billion by 2024, growing in response to demand for food that has more nutrition in it and is tasty.
The full report “Cold Pressed Juice Market” is available with Radiant Insights, Inc. at www.radiantinsights.com.
In the trade dispute with the US, European Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom has warned a full-on transatlantic trade war is „not in anybody’s interests“. She said: “We have made it clear that a move that hurts the EU and puts thousands of European jobs in jeopardy will be met with a firm and proportionate response.” However, she confirmed that a provisional list of targets has been drawn up and is being shared with EU member states to respond to Mr. Trump’s trade war with tariffs on US whiskey, orange juice and peanut butter.
Concerns about a possible global trade war have been intensifying due to Trump’s plan to introduce tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and due to the resignation of Gary Cohn, who had been a pro-trade White House adviser.
European Commission press conference by Commissioner Cecilia MALMSTRÖM
Provisional list of targets has been drawn up e.g. with tariffs on US whiskey, orange juice and cranberries.
