Rebalancing Healthfulness and Taste
By Andy Hanacek
When it comes to producing “good-for-you” snack crackers, producers have had to look high and low for the right ingredients. And often, the healthful end products have not tasted nearly as good as their indulgent predecessors.
But Tate & Lyle, a global leader in the renewable ingredients industry, has a “good-for-you” solution — its new Rebalance System 50 Cracker Ingredients.
Tate & Lyle showcased the new system at SNAXPO 2005 in Hollywood, Fla., where they offered attendees samples of their prototype whole-grain crackers, which were made with traditional sheeted cracker technology using Rebalance System ingredients.
Joni Simms, food ingredients technical service manager for the company, and Lori Napier, manager of food ingredient applications, were among several Tate & Lyle employees explaining the positives of the Rebalance System 50 Cracker Ingredients to show attendees.
“We see that food manufacturers are responding to the consumers’ demand for healthy diets,” Simms said. “And we are able to provide ingredient solutions like Rebalance System 50 that fit their requirements.”
One key attribute of the Rebalance System 50 Cracker Ingredients is that they reduce the amount of glycemic carbohydrates, such as sugar, in traditional and whole-grain formulas with a neutral or buttery flavor.
When manufacturing whole-grain crackers, the trick, compared to traditional snack crackers, is binding the dough and ingredients and maintaining the appropriate machinability. The Rebalance System’s ingredients keep the dough machinable and still produce a crispy texture after baking.
These positive attributes allow manufacturers to incorporate the ingredients in trans fat-free cracker formulas without sacrificing quality. In fact, the new Rebalance System ingredients actually enhance the flavor of the whole-grain crackers by providing a mild sweetness, without the use of nutritive sweeteners.
The Rebalance System also allows cracker producers to label their product a “Good Source of Fiber,” because it contains 3 gm. of dietary fiber (per 30 gm. serving).
Simms and Napier added that the Rebalance System 50 Cracker Ingredients are part of Tate & Lyle’s all-encompassing “ingredients solutions strategy,” identified by the acronym “C.O.R.E.”
C.O.R.E. stands for “Create, Optimize, Rebalance and Enrich,” which Tate & Lyle attempts to do with each of the ingredient solutions it develops.
Tate & Lyle developed this strategy to focus on partnering more with its customers, meeting their needs and developing products such as the Rebalance System.
“We can respond much more quickly to changing market trends by offering innovation as a partner, rather than being simply another supplier of ingredients,” Napier explained.
With the Rebalance System 50 Cracker Ingredients, the goal was to take the products to a new market position, helping manufacturers produce a healthier option without sacrificing the taste, texture and other attributes of snack crackers.
Based on the statistics and samples Tate & Lyle offered at SNAXPO that were made with the Rebalance System ingredients, the company seems to have reached its goals on this product.