Better Juice technology has been designed to reduce all types of sugars in orange juice. Credit: stiven bravo on Unsplash.

FoodTech start-up Better Juice and Brazil-based juice producer Citrosuco have partnered to establish a pilot plant that reduces sugars in orange juice.

Better Juice is considered the first company to develop enzymatic technology, which reduces all types of sugars in orange juice.

The technology uses all-natural ingredients to convert monosaccharides and disaccharides (fructose, glucose and sucrose) into prebiotic and other non-digestible fibres and sugars.

Better Juice founder and CEO Eran Blachinsky said: “The global orange juices market is valued at dozens of billion of American dollars with outstanding potential to create better-for-you orange juice beverages. This collaboration with Citrosuco is a vote of confidence in Better Juice’s leading technology and its capabilities for reducing sugar in orange juice.

“Our proprietary technology can be tuned to reduce between 30% and 80% of all the sugars in orange juice. This makes it easy to conform to the minimum 25% reduction required by the FDA, as well as the 30% reduction required by the EFSA for allowable claims of ‘reduced sugar’ in food and beverage products.”

For the new pilot plant, Citrosuco has agreed to provide some of the funding, as well as technical and operational expertise.

Fruit juices produced at the facility will contain vitamins, minerals and many other beneficial nutrients.

Citrosuco product development and applications general manager Alex Marie Schuermans said: “We have been seeking an orange juice sugar reduction technology for some time.

“Better Juice’s solution holds a lot of promise and we are confident that by combining their technology with our know-how, we can accelerate production of the first sugar-reduced orange juice.”