Speaking with FoodNavigator-LATAM at the recent IFT Show in Chicago, Miguel Ruiseñor, CP Kelco’s LATAM regional sales director, said that there is a lot of focus in Latin America on sugar reduction because of obesity, particularly for younger consumers.
“We have been talking to the market for over four years now on sugar reduction. When you take out sugar from beverages the mouthfeel, the rheology and viscosity may be different, and you don’t want your customers to notice that,” he said. “By using our products like Genu Pectin or Keltrol Xanthan Gum, you can avoid that and keep the same mouthfeel as a regular beverage.”
Ruiseñor also discussed the increase in interest in ambient yogurt drinks across the region. “You have a cheap source of protein that you can transport without refrigeration is key for some companies. But formulating that kind of product is not easy because if you don’t have some kind of stabilization system, the protein will lump and fall out of solution.
“You also need some flexibility on the process because sometimes you have natural milk as a source, but sometimes you can have powdered milk, or poor quality milks. We can help producers with our specific product line of pectin specially designed for these ambient drinking yogurts.”
Fi South America preview
Ruiseñor also told us that the company would showcase five prototypes at the upcoming Fi South America show in Sao Paolo, including an almond milk, ambient drinking yogurts with coconut milk and dairy milk, a fruit drink with a new transparent pectin, some confectionery products using gellan gum, and an energy shot with calcium suspended, which is not an easy technical solution, he said.
Ruiseñor also discussed the “chaos” caused by the recent trucker’s strike in Brazil, and the lessons this had for supply chain management.