Patent for sugar coating

Corbion Purac has been granted a European patent for its unique coating technology for acid powders, which is applied in acid sanded sugar confectionery. Based on this innovative technology, the company has already developed a range of malic acid powders, such as Purac Powder MA, which has been designed to enable manufacturers to develop differentiating sugar confectionery with instant and intensive sour taste profiles and prolonged shelf life.

Many coated acids for confectionery applications use fat coating technology. This not only provides taste issues, such as a delay in the release of the sourness or even a rancid off taste, hygroscopicity and acid migration can also occur. The result is often a loss of instant sourness and sticky or humid products with impaired visual appeal, especially in long shelf-life applications.

This patented coating technology significantly improves stability in terms of acid migration and moisture uptake from the environment. This means the candy remains dry throughout its shelf life and then dissolves much faster on consumption than fat based coatings, offering consumers an instantaneous, refreshing burst of acidity.

Hans Schinck, market manager confectionery at Corbion Purac, comments, “This is a really exciting moment for us and we’re pleased that we’re the only supplier able to offer this groundbreaking solution to the European confectionery market.

“Our research and development team developed this technology over several years in direct response to customer demands for a solution that would help them overcome the issues associated with the use of many traditional fat-coated acid powders. The feedback we have received so far has been extremely positive and we’re very much looking forward to launching further ingredients based on this proprietary technology.”