[Beverages] Vol. 20 No. 2 February 2010

Still - Bever age Surge

By Donna Berry, Contributing Editor

It‟s tough being a soft drink for today‟s consumer, as expectations have exceeded the original intent of refreshing and quenching thirst. Because consumers want more from everything, beverage designers are shying away from carbonation and focusing on still beverages, which provide more latitude in terms of adding in a dose of health and wellness.

Further, carbonated soft drinks are getting a bum rap in the media. There‟s a strong enough negative correlation between bubbles and beverages to cause a surge of activity in the still beverage business. Most recently, New York Governor David Paterson proposed to levy an excise tax on soda and other sugared drinks, a beverage category described by Michael Jacobson, executive director and founder, Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) , Washington, D.C., as a “totally unnecessary and worthless product.”

“Soda consumption harms taxpayers,” according to Jacobson. “Taxpayers in New York State and elsewhere are already paying a heavy price for out-of-control soda consumption, since taxpayers subsidize much of the treatment of obesity, diabetes and other expensive health problems. Unlike milk or juice, soda provides nothing but empty calories to the diet. A state tax on these disease- promoting drinks could raise a billion dollars a year and put a modest dent in consumption. That‟s a windfall for taxpayers in more ways than one.”

Still going strong

These are strong—and highly opinionated—statements. Nevertheless, the beverage industry is taking them to heart. This becomes quite apparent by recent still beverage product innovations and investments by the carbonated soft drink leaders.

“Taste remains No.1,” says Stacey Walton, senior research scientist, Tate & Lyle, Decatur, IL. “But today‟s consumers also want their beverages to contribute to health and wellness, as well as come in a variety of flavors. Beverages manufacturers, on the other hand, are looking for ways to reduce costs.”

Ram Chaudhari, Ph.D., senior executive vice president and chief scientific officer, Fortitech Inc., Schenectady, NY, adds: “Beverages that emphasize a healthy base material still are the focus." He lists fruit juices, in particular those based on superfruits, as well as waters and tea as beverages wearing a healthy halo.

Blueberries still are the leading superfruit to flavor beverages, either alone or in combination with another familiar favorite or an intriguing exotic. Part of the reason is health, but part is also the across-the-board appeal of blueberries,” says Thomas Payne, industry specialist for the U.S.

www.foodproductdesign.com Page 1

[Beverages] Vol. 20 No. 2 February 2010

Highbush Blueberry Council, Folsom, CA. “Consumers equate blueberries with antioxidant power and readily accept them as an ingredient in almost any beverage.

“Beverage formulators know they can put blueberries on the label and take advantage of the image of blueberries as a healthy, delicious fruit full of natural goodness. There are already blueberries in a realm of juices and beverages that make the claim for antioxidants,” Payne continues. “From healthy juices and beauty-from-within beverages to nouveau nonalcoholic cocktails, blueberries are synergistic with so many ingredients, herbs and spices, among them ginger, cocoa, chocolate, caramel and lemonade, to name a few.”

Single-strength juice, which is made from fresh blueberries that are crushed, pressed, filtered, pasteurized, packaged and frozen, works particularly well in beverage formulations. “The Brix is in the range of 8° to 12°, with pH between 2.8 and 3.4,” adds Payne. “Further, blueberry juice contains about 12% sugar, and a low acid content of about 1.9%, which complements other high-acid juices.

“You can also use blueberry-juice concentrate, which is made from fresh blueberries that are crushed, heat and enzyme treated, vacuum concentrated, packaged, and frozen,” continues Payne. “The Brix for the concentrate can range from 45° to 65°, with pH between 2.1 and 2.7.”

The approach is different with tea formulations, as the blueberry must not dominate the tea profile. “Blueberry powder works best,” says Payne. “Fresh or frozen blueberries, or purée, are drum-dried and ground into powder or flakes. The moisture content is low, usually around 3% to 5%.”

Other fruits in the formula

“Superfruits are still the trend in beverage flavors, but the dynamics have changed,” says Steve Wolf, director of flavor applications, Robertet Flavors Inc., Piscataway, NJ. “First we went to the exotic, such as açaí, then to the familiar … all the berries, particularly blueberries. Consumers seem to really enjoy blends of the two—the exotic with the familiar—so formulators are all trying to find the next best-tasting exotic fruit juice.

“With the growing Hispanic market, we are also seeing a resurgence in nectar flavors,” Wolf says. “Nectars have been around forever. In fact, the 100% juice versions are the original smoothie. Nevertheless, the consistency of nectars is not for everyone, but the fruits are flavors everyone loves, such as apricot, mango, pear and peach.

“We have recreated nectar flavors for application in other still beverages, including juice drinks and teas,” continues Wolf. “The nectar flavor brings a different, more-complex character to the beverage.”

The FDA defines the term “nectar” as generally accepted as the common or usual name in the United States and in international trade for a diluted juice beverage that contains fruit juice or puree, water, and often sweeteners. The fruit content of a genuine fruit juice must be 100%; nectars only need to have a certain minimum content of juice, which can vary depending on the particular country‟s regulations. www.foodproductdesign.com Page 2

[Beverages] Vol. 20 No. 2 February 2010

Cuckoo for coconuts

Another Hispanic beverage, and also popular in the tropics, is naturally low-calorie coconut water. According to Beverage Marketing Corp., New York, coconut water is attracting mainstream America, as sales doubled from 2008 to 2009 to roughly $20 million, and this growth shows no signs of abating. Interestingly, in Sept. 2009, the No. 1 U.S. soda marketer—The Coca-Cola Co., Atlanta— bought a minority stake in the coconut water brand Zico. Coconut water, not to be confused with coconut milk, is the clear liquid inside young coconuts. As the fruit matures, the coconut water gradually is replaced by coconut meat and air. Coconut milk is actually manufactured from the meat of a mature coconut.

Coconut water has a long history as a source of nutrition, and in fact, during war times, coconut water has been used as an intravenous fluid; it‟s the only natural substance that can be safely injected into the human bloodstream. Today, Americans are enjoying its value as a natural sports drink. For example, Zico makes claims of five electrolytes (calcium, chloride, magnesium, potassium and sodium) the body needs to keep nerves firing, muscles moving and to help manage stress. An 11-oz. serving of Zico has more potassium than a banana and 15 times more than most sports drinks, according to the manufacturer, and—like most other coconut waters—does not contain added sweeteners.

How sweet is sweet?

One hundred-percent coconut water is not for everyone. It is not an overly sweet beverage, and, as many believe, the soda marketers have trained us to crave sweet. High-intensity sweeteners can assist with keeping sweetness in check, and still maintain a low-calorie content.

“It‟s important to determine the sweetness level and calorie content you are targeting up front,” says Walton. “Then you can work with blending nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners to reach these end points.

“Sucralose, which is about 600 times as sweet as sucrose, readily blends with sucrose,” Walton continues. “In such a blend, when reducing sugar by 10% to 40%, sucralose may experience an increase in sweetness intensity of up to 1,200 times sweeter than sucrose alone. This not only reduces calories while keeping the beverage sweet, it also reduces usage levels of all sweeteners, and, thus, costs.”

Such blending of sweeteners does not need to be flagged on product labels. The sweeteners are only required to be listed in the ingredient statement. But some beverage manufacturers want to highlight the incorporated sweetener, either to draw attention to the lower-calorie formulation or to emphasize a product‟s naturalness, which is possible when the only non-nutritive sweetener used comes from the Stevia rebaudiana plant.

It‟s been about 16 months since FDA first recognized the self-affirmed GRAS status of S. rebaudina plant extracts. Leaves from this plant, which is native to Central and South America, have long been recognized as being sweet. Numerous ingredient companies have identified processes to extract one www.foodproductdesign.com Page 3

[Beverages] Vol. 20 No. 2 February 2010 of the sweetest compounds from the leaves, a steviol glycoside known as rebaudioside A (reb A), producing an ingredient that is 200 to 400 times sweeter than sucrose. Because of its intense sweetness, only a small amount of reb A is required, and it contributes no calories to beverage formulations. Further, because stevia is all-natural, unlike most other high-intensity sweeteners currently in the marketplace, beverage formulators have been actively pursuing its inclusion in new products, as well as trying to reformulate it into oldies but goodies.

“The interest we‟ve experienced across all beverage categories continues to reinforce that stevia is on its way toward becoming a mainstream ingredient,” says Jason Hecker, director of marketing, PureCircle USA, Oak Brook, IL. “We‟ve seen clearly that acceptance has been not only as a zero- calorie solution, but also as a wonderful way to reduce calories in the „full-calorie‟ products consumers love.”

For example, one of the first beverages to utilize a stevia-based sweetener comes from No. 2 soda manufacturer PepsiCo Inc., Purchase, NY, and is a lower-calorie version of a higher-calorie favorite. The product—Trop 50—is an orange juice drink with 50% less sugar and calories than straight orange juice.

The beverage “quickly became a $100 million brand and recently added two new varieties— pomegranate blueberry and pineapple mango,” says Hecker. "Zero-Calorie Sobe Lifewater also got a very positive response from consumers, so the line was extended with two additional flavors: Strawberry Dragonfruit and Cherimoya Punch.”

Even though manufacturers are still working out taste issues, Mintel, Chicago, expects stevia sales to jump from $21 million in 2008 to upward of $2 billion by the end of 2011.

Flavor companies are offering beverage developers all types of assistance with stevia, from masking agents to cover up off notes, to extracts that boost a beverage‟s characterizing fruit flavor. For example, the primary ingredient in PepsiCo‟s beverage is filtered water. Not-from-concentrate pasteurized orange juice comes second. The water component needs a boost to complement the orange juice, so it doesn‟t taste diluted. This help comes in the form of added malic and citric acids, as well as natural flavors.

“Natural flavors can round out the characterizing fruit juice flavor,” says Paulette Kerner, director of marketing communications, Virginia Dare, Brooklyn, NY. “They also can provide the characterizing flavor, with the juice in the drink sourced from a less-expensive fruit than the characterizing flavor.” For example, pomegranate-flavored water may be labeled as containing 10% juice, but that juice is apple. Natural pomegranate flavor provides the characterizing flavor profile.

Interestingly, Wolf says that stevia-based sweeteners seem to work better in still beverages than carbonated ones, and specific flavors work best with stevia. “Carbonation seems to accentuate the negative tastes of stevia-based sweeteners, while also masking the positive,” Wolf says. “With the right flavors in the right concentration, the negatives can be readily masked in still beverages.”

www.foodproductdesign.com Page 4

[Beverages] Vol. 20 No. 2 February 2010

Already brewed and chilled

All of the aforementioned fruits, flavors and sweeteners are increasingly finding a home in ready-to- drink (RTD) tea, a still beverage with ever-increasing popularity―and versatility. “Brewed tea makes an excellent base for value-added beverages,” says John Harper, sales and marketing, Amelia Bay, Inc., Alpharetta, GA. “Tea is a natural source of polyphenols, making brewed tea a concentrated source of antioxidants.”

John Rogers, technical vice president, Amelia Bay, adds: “In the past, many RTD teas were made using inexpensive instant tea powders, or sometimes no real brewed tea at all—just water flavored with tea extracts.“But because today‟s consumer wants more, and is willing to pay for quality, even during tough economical times, beverage developers are turning to fresh-brewed liquid tea extracts that capture the tea leaf‟s flavors, aromas and soluble solids.”

When it comes to adding extra nutrition to RTD tea, Rogers cautions that, unlike water and fruit juice, tea has its limits. “Tea has a delicate flavor, and you cannot add too much to it,” he says “Some antioxidants, and maybe some vitamins, can be included, but some ingredients such as protein and fiber must be used carefully, if at all in tea, in order to maintain a balanced flavor profile.”

Liquid assets

When it comes to adding extras to waters, juice and even milk-based drinks, there is a fine line between whether the beverage is a value-added refreshment or a functional food. “The consumer continues to look for ways to supplement a healthy diet with probiotics, fiber, protein, calcium and even electrolytes now that refreshment drinks are more in focus,” says Stephanie Lynch, director of business development, Virginia Dare.

“Once you have the base product defined, including desired flavor profile and sweetness level, you can start adding extras,” says Walton. “For example, soluble corn fiber is an easy way to boost the fiber content of a still beverage. Its addition is transparent, even at levels high enough to allow for an „excellent source of fiber‟ claim.”

Adding probiotics to fruit juices is a strategy that many beverage developers are using to bring additional immune-health benefits to their antioxidant-rich, all-natural fruit juice range.

“Consumers are searching for natural healthy solutions for boosting immune health,” says Peggy Steele, global business director, health & nutrition, bioactives, Danisco, New Century, KS. “Probiotic- enhanced juices are especially appealing to consumers avoiding dairy, who cannot get their daily dose of probiotics in a yogurt or fermented milk.” The company‟s probiotic strain, Bifidobacterium lactis HN019, which was selected for its immune-modulating properties, has been clinically proven to enhance the body‟s natural immune response, especially among children and the elderly.

“Our applications specialists have acquired a real know-how of direct inoculation of probiotics into juices,” says Marie Jane Fallourd, beverage group manager, Danisco. “Our expertise spans www.foodproductdesign.com Page 5

[Beverages] Vol. 20 No. 2 February 2010 formulation development, and the test results have shown our capability to obtain a good survival of our probiotics in fruit juice over 40 days at 4°C.”

There are many other nutrients being added to still beverages. In fact, the popularity of beverages like glacéau Vitamin Water almost make fortification a prerequisite for new beverage development endeavors.“Appropriately designed and targeted micronutrient-fortified beverages could help close important nutrient gaps of many demographics, including children and low-income families,” says Chaudhari.

In the end, who‟s to say that pumped-up still beverages won‟t be a future target of the food police? After all, the irony of the entire soda debate lies in the fact that the first U.S. soda fountains were in pharmacies where doctors concocted carbonated drinks for the health and well-being of their customers. Though these original sodas are far removed from the modern bottled variety, by no means did anyone develop any version to intentionally cause harm.

Donna Berry, president of Chicago-based Dairy & Food Communications, Inc., has been writing about product development and marketing for 13 years. Prior to that, she worked for Kraft Foods in the natural-cheese division. She has a B.S. in food science from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. She can be reached at donnaberry@dairy- food.com.

www.foodproductdesign.com Page 6