Global tropical fruit processor Frutco and plant-based ingredient supplier Fooditive have teamed up to fight food waste with a new sweetener line in Europe based on banana peels.

As part of the collaboration, Fooditive and Frutco is constructing a multi waste- and residues-based biodiesel plant to process banana and tropical fruit side-streams into fruit extracts and sweeteners.

As an exclusive partner, Frutco will use the Fooditive production methods for bananas, and the Fooditive banana sweeteners will be industrially manufactured and distributed. 

The product will be positioned as a sustainable sweetener that can improve health while removing carbon emissions from the supply chain.

“This is 100 percent sugar replacement. It will allow companies to replac sugar due to its high functional properties. It has also shown promising results in many applications such as chocolate, dairy, and beverages.” a spokesperson at Frutco tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

The plant will use Fooditive’s technology that enables the processing of all types of fruits and vegetables side-streams. These side-streams include by-products from food processing, waste from the food industry, and non-food crops grown on marginal land. 

The project to provide “better sugar substitutes” is starting now, with the plant due to open in mid-2022. 

Sweetening with extracts 
The banana sweetener line has been developed to address functionality, taste and fiber intake.

While the sweetener is not yet validated as a food ingredient, the product quality, yields and production costs are very promising, explains the Frutco spokesperson. 

Processing of ripe banana peel to 99.7 percent erythritol (E968) has been validated on a laboratory scale at a batch level, the spokesperson explains. 

Moreover, the process can be modified by interrupting fermentation at a precise moment to produce a “banana extract” (banana sweetener). This form of the ingredient avoids E-number labeling regulation, providing a product alternative with very similar functionality. 

Groundbreaking processing 
Notably, the plant will use continuous fermentation to produce the sweeteners and functional ingredients. This “groundbreaking” production method can increase yields while decreasing the amount of yeast needed, according to the Frutco spokesperson. 

Utilization of continuous fermentation is usually done with a recycling system for the yeast and some sort of extraction system that separates the ethanol from the converting mass and the yeast. 

This process allows the production of the sweetener to have very large volumes daily, instead of the batch fermentation.

Fooditive has implemented continuous fermentation for more than two years. Frutco will be able to utilize this process to produce more volumes and use less yeast. 

The fermentation process has been adapted to apple side-streams too. The final product is a novel food ingredient, naturally found in nature, with functional fiber and no-calorie sweetener properties, described as keto-friendly.

Origins in sustainable 
The collaboration between Frutco and Fooditive was a natural synergy. 

“When we got into a conversation with Fooditive, we quickly realized that the companies not only share the same philosophy and ideas, but that the human element also fits very well together,” says Claudia Lauener Hofer, COO at Frutco.

“Frutco is committed to being 100 percent sustainable by 2030. Our progress is reviewed annually by Price Waterhouse Cooper (PWC) as part of the Sustainable Juice Covenant and is already 84 percent sustainable,” she concludes. 

“Sustainability is seen here as an opportunity to combine economic, environmental and social goals to achieve long-term success.”