AAK UK
Creating a new recipe for success
Against new regulations by the UK government to
combat rising levels of diabetes and obesity, a UK
cake manufacturer turned to AAK to help create a
new recipe with less sugar and no increase in cost.
The need to reduce sugar in our diet has become a
major health issue in the UK. Sugar is considered
a major cause of type 2 diabetes and obesity, which
costs the UK National Health Service over £1 billion
a year.
In response, Public Health England published
guidelines to the food industry in 2017 to reduce sugar
levels by 20 percent by 2020 in several food categories,
including biscuits and cakes. However, this is not an
easy thing to accomplish due to the cost and technical
implications involved. Furthermore, sugar substitutes,
such as high-intensity sweeteners, polyols, stevia or
inulin, all have their own cost and formulation issues.
Perfectly positioned to help
Nevertheless, a major UK retailer challenged a large UK
cake manufacturer to develop a line of healthier cakes
with reduced sugar and no increase in cost. To make
this possible, the cake manufacturer turned to AAK UK
for help.
This level of sugar reduction had never been
attempted before on a major private label cake line so
extensive research was an important part of the project.
Fortunately, AAK UK had already conducted internal
studies into the type of fat used in a product that could
affect sweetness perception in baked goods.
The perfect solution
AAK UK created a co-development program to minimize
cost and increase the functionality of the sugar alternative
ingredients. The solution involved replacing the
butter with butter alternatives that had the same melt
profile, flavor, color and emulsifying properties, were
lower in saturated fat and cost, and also required less
sugar alternatives to achieve the same sweetness.
Outstanding results
The launch of the newly formulated cake recipe was
a huge success and outsold the original recipe by
100 percent and earned an award for “successful new
innovation from a retailer”. Following this, a second
retailer introduced the same technology into their range
of in-store cafe cakes and experienced an uplift in sales
of 40 percent.
Innovation and collaboration are at the core of
what makes AAK different. These results show how
our unique co-development approach is invaluable in
helping customers to overcome challenges and achieve
their business goals.
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