Ingredion Opens New Allulose Sweetener Production Plant

Ingredient solutions firm Ingredion opened a new production plant in San Juan del Rio, Mexico that will manufacture the natural sweetener allulose to serve food and beverage manufacturers across the Americas, the company announced in a recent release. 

Sold under the brand name ASTRAEA Allulose, the sweetener can used in beverages, dairy, bakery, confectionery, and other products. Ingredion also announced that Matsutani will license some of its allulose-related intellectual property to the company, as well as market and sell ASTRAEA Allulose in Asia.

“We are advancing our specialties strategy with the unique value proposition offered by allulose for sugar reduction by aligning with one of the most important food and beverage trends shaping our industry and impacting our customers,” the chief executive officer and president of Ingredion, Jim Zallie, said in a statement. “We look forward to working with Matsutani and bringing further innovation to the marketplace that meets the evolving needs of today’s global consumers.”

ASTRAEA Allulose has 70% as sweet as traditional sugar, according to Ingredion. Using allulose can help food and beverage manufacturers to reduce the calories from sucrose in their products. Ingredion’s allulose is COFEPRIS approved as a non-caloric sweetener for use in various food and beverage segments. Companies using the ingredient are allowed to omit ASTRAEA Allulose from the nutrition facts. 

“Matsutani has been developing, researching, and fine-tuning a new generation of sugars, including ASTRAEA Allulose, for more than 15 years,” Yoshinobu Matsutani, executive vice president at Matsutani, said in the release. “Matsutani is the company with the most clinical studies and research regarding this ingredient. We are excited about opening this plant and we see now a reality where Ingredion will produce ASTRAEA through our collaboration and it will be a great solution for the food and beverage industries, both of which look for this sweetener all over the American continent.”

Ingredion entered into a relationship with Matsutani to manufacture the allulose product in Mexico in December 2018. 

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