Sweeteners

Description

"Sweetener" is a collective term for different sugars such as lactose or dextrose and also for starch saccharification products such as glucose syrup and maltose.

• The declaration as "sweeteners" is approved only for the packaging of meats and sausages.

Application

Sweeteners are generally added in meat- and sausage products in fractions olf as much as one to two per cent. They function much in the same manner as as ascorbic acid/ vitamin C as an aid in the production of a rosy hue. Thereby, muscle pigments are altered tp become heat resistant and durable. For this "reddening", as well as for the purpose of preservation, the additives of curing salt and sodium nitrite are added.

Gene technology

For sugars that are declared as "sweeteners" in meat- and sausage products various gene technological applications are possible:

• glucose syrup: starch of genetically modified maize, application of genetically produced enzymes
• glucose/dextrose: starch of GM maize, application of genetically produced enzymes
• lactose: produced of whey
• maltose: starch from GM maize,
• application of genetically produced enzymes

Labelling: sweeteners are subject to a labelling requirement, if they are produced directly from GM plants (e.g. maize). Whether this applies to glucose that is generally obtained by way of various processing stages is not yet explicitly clarified.