This Cutting-Edge Sugar Substitute Is Made Entirely from Food Waste
There are so many alternative sweeteners on the market, but most of the artificial options are overly sweet and filled with chemical add-ins like sucralose and aspartame. Until now, that is: Fooditive, a Netherlands-based company has plans to change all of that. Fooditive has developed a new sweetener made entirely from fruit scraps, specifically apples and pears, that aren't able to be sold in supermarkets. The zero-calorie, powder-based sweetener is void of the bitter aftertaste that many other artificial sweeteners have.
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The company was founded by food scientist Moayad Abushokhedim, who aimed to create a plant-based product that was better for both our bodies and the environment. Because Fooditive uses "ugly produce" to create the sweetener, it is completely sustainable unlike many other artificial sweeteners, which can't be removed entirely from wastewater treatment plants. Ultimately, these sweeteners end up in rivers and oceans, harming natural habitats, aquatic plant life, and animals..
Related: Best Sugar Substitutes
Fooditive collects the third-grade fruit that would otherwise go to waste from local Dutch farmers. Through a fermentation process, the natural fructose is extracted from the fruit and turned into a revolutionary sweetener. "Our products really provide the food and beverage producers with the ability to have a clean label, a green label, and show people what's in their food," says Gijs Gieles, a spokesperson for Fooditive.
Fooditive is currently available in Sweden and is in the process of expanding to other Nordic countries, as well as the United Kingdom and Jordan. They hope to work with food regulators in the United States to bring the product stateside soon, too.
