Erythrit

Description

Erythrit is a sugar alcohol. It naturally occurs in small quantities in a number of different fruits (water melon, pear, grapes), mushrooms, fermented food products (soy sauce, rice wine, beer) and cheese. Its sweetening intensity is about sixty to eighty per cent the intensity of table sugar (sucrose).

Usually erythrit is obtained by the conversion of glucose or table sugar (sucrose) by osmophile fungi.

Application

Erythrit can be used in a selection of different food products ranging from sweets to dairy produce. Similar to other sugar alcohols it is used to sweeten diet fruit preparations of reduced caloric value or sugar-free products. It is not allowed in the preparation of juice drinks.

Apart from that it serves as flavour enhancer, carrier substance, humectant, stabilising agent, thickener, filling agent and complexing agent.

Biotechnology

Erythrit can be produced with the aid of GM micro-organisms. It is, however, not possible to tell whether or not genetic engineering is used in commercial production processes and to which extent this is the case.

Labelling: Additives that have been produced with the aid of GM micro-organisms in closed systems need not be labelled if the additive in question has been purified and contains no micro-organisms.

If the micro-organisms in question have received nutrient solutions derived from GM plants, the additive requires no labelling either.