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Ratna Bhushan

NEW DELHI, June 16

AFTER sugar-free soft drinks and flavoured water, it's now sugar-free confectionery and bakery products that could well become a reality in India.

The production of sugar-free confectionery, gaining increasing popularity in developed markets, has not been allowed in India under the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) rules till now. However, industry representatives are now hopeful that a draft notification allowing sugar-free confectionery will provide the much-needed shot in the arm for the industry.

Confirming the development, a Health Ministry source said that a draft notification has been circulated recently by the Union Government, after consultation with the Central Committee for Food Standards, proposing to amend some Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules, 1955, which include guidelines for the confectionery and bakery sector.

According to the notification, confectionery products such as chewing gum and panned sugar confectionery may contain food grade titanium dioxide up to a maximum limit of 1.0 per cent. Further, limited quantities of aspartame - the ingredient for all sugar-free products - will be allowed in categories such as sugar-based confectionery, chewing gum and bubble gum, biscuits, bread and cakes. The notification adds that all food products permitted to contain artificial sweeteners will need to declare `contain artificial sweetener and for calorie conscious'. The implementation of the development is likely to happen by the year-end.

Said a top official of a leading confectionery player, "Worldwide, confectionery is taking the direction of sugar-free and functional products. In India too, this will open a completely new segment."

However, there is a flip side. As another industry representative pointed out, "the key issue will be of cost, given that production of sugar-free confectionery is much more expensive than regular confectionery. Already, this industry has to deal with an 8-16 per cent excise duty and low margins."

Meanwhile, market analyst, Euromonitor, has projected that globally, sugar-free confectionery and innovation will drive category growth in 2003, more so in segments such as adult-oriented confectionery. Euromonitor adds there is big opportunity for mainstream confectioners to extend into the sugar-free market. The existing niche diabetic confectionery market remains a small segment of the overall market.

In developed markets, isomalt has emerged as the most widely used sweetener of choice for sugar-free candies. Cerestar, the world's leading producer of starch-derived ingredients for the food industry, offers isomalt powder and liquid specifically for the manufacture of sugar-free hard candies.

Other widely-used sugar-free applications in candy, chocolates, cookies and jams include sorbitol, maltitol, maltitol syrup or hydrogenated starch, hydrolysate.

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