Tech startup aims to reduce sugars in orange juice

A food-based tech startup in Israel has developed a new technology that reduces all types of sugars in orange juice and has announced that it’s scaling up its business.

Better Juice is installing a semi-industrial pilot plant that is available to its current roster of global juice partners and new partners, including those manufacturing for store brands. The pilot plant features the company’s sugar reduction process in a continuous flow technology that ensures a consistent, safe and effective enzymatic process, the company said.

Better Juice developed an enzymatic technology that uses all-natural ingredients to convert fructose, glucose and sucrose into prebiotic dietary fibers and other non-digestible molecules. Better Juice's new pilot plant system will enable company's it partners with to reduce up to 80% of simple sugar in orange juice at a rate of up to 50 liters/hour. Better Juice's non-GMO technology is designed to target the specific sugar composition in the orange juice to naturally create a low-calorie reduced-sugar product that has a delicate sweetness, without using sweeteners or other additives.    

"We've signed collaboration agreements with several global juice producers so far," said Eran Blachinsky, PhD, founder and CEO of Better Juice. "Our goal is to attain full industrial scale and supply to the market within a year. Soon, you will be able to see natural juice beverages with more favorable Nutri-Scores." Nutri-Score is a label system that converts the nutritional value of products into a clear letter and color code on packaging in Europe.

The company said its new device is crafted from stainless steel, with aseptic fittings and welding, that together provides a unique process that guarantees a continuous, safe flow for its enzymatic sugar-reduction process for weeks at a time without interrupting the sterilization stage.