The Constant Reinvention of Sweeteners
The push toward sweetener innovation in bakery formulations is being driven by health, regulatory, and consumer forces. Sugar reduction has become a central objective across markets, as both public policy and shifting consumer expectations accelerate the move away from “added sugar.” That, as well as the reigning dominance of taste – things have to be tasty, in the end – lead to new ingredients that satisfy cravings while safeguarding health objectives.
Today’s sweeteners are expected to deliver far more than sweetness alone – they must replicate the functional properties of sugar, ensuring proper texture, browning, mouthfeel, freeze–thaw stability, and flavor balance. Cost and scalability remain decisive factors, with many promising ingredients still constrained by limited supply or high production expenses. Finally, each innovation must navigate a complex regulatory landscape, where approval timelines and safety assessments vary by region, influencing how quickly new sweeteners can reach industrial bakers and consumer shelves.
The Stars
In bakery production, sucrose (table sugar) remains the dominant sweetener by far, accounting for nearly 80 % of market revenue thanks to its unmatched functionality in browning, bulking, moisture retention, and yeast fermentation. Liquid forms such as glucose syrup, invert sugar, and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) – or isoglucose in the EU – are also widely used to improve texture, shelf life, and mixability.
For reduced-sugar and calorie-controlled bakery items, sugar alcohols like erythritol, xylitol, sorbitol, and isomalt are the preferred options, with erythritol in particular seeing strong market growth. High-intensity sweeteners – including stevia, sucralose, and acesulfame-K – are used where sweetness is needed without bulk, especially in icings and fillings, though taste challenges persist.
Finally, natural sweeteners such as honey, maple syrup, agave, and fruit concentrates play a smaller but growing role in premium and clean-label bakery products, offering flavor depth and marketing appeal despite higher cost and formulation complexity.
But intensive research has been putting out new sweeteners that can answer all of the consumers’ new expectations.
The New Kids on the Block
A new wave of next-generation sweeteners is reshaping bakery formulations, moving beyond familiar names such as stevia, erythritol and sucralose. These innovative ingredients promise improved taste, functionality and metabolic performance, meeting the dual challenge of reducing sugar while preserving indulgence.
Among them, allulose (psicose) is gaining particular traction thanks to its low calorie content (around 0.2–0.4 kcal/g) and sucrose-like behaviour in browning, bulking and freezing—making it ideal for “low-sugar” or “sugar-free” cookies and cakes. Allulose is a rare sugar with 70% of the sweetness of sucrose but nearly zero calories. It has a similar taste profile to fructose and, when heated, creates a caramelization effect, delivering a flavor profile like sucrose.
Already popular in Asian markets such as South Korea, it is emerging globally as a true “near-sugar” alternative. Ingredient producer Samyang, for example, has received approval to sell allulose as a safe food ingredient in Australia and New Zealand, marking it as the first company worldwide to gain Novel Food approval for allulose in these countries.
The term “Novel Food,” used by regulatory bodies such as that of the EU, Canada, and Oceania, refers to innovative food ingredients that were not previously used in foods but have now been deemed safe. Allulose’s Novel Food approval in Australia and New Zealand represents a significant milestone.
With this approval, allulose is now officially recognized as a food ingredient in Australia and New Zealand. Unlike high-intensity sweeteners and sugar alcohols classified as food additives, such as aspartame, sucralose, and erythritol, allulose can now be used more freely to manufacture sugar-reduced and sugar-free products.
Alongside allulose, rare sugars such as tagatose are also attracting attention for their similar performance and natural appeal. Tagatose is defined as a monosaccharide that occurs naturally in small amounts in certain fruits and dairy products, characterized as a ketose with a structural difference from fructose due to the reversed orientation of the hydroxyl group on the fourth carbon. It is synthesized for use as a food ingredient and is noted for its potential prebiotic properties, influencing gut microbiota by selectively stimulating beneficial bacteria.
To address taste limitations found in early-generation natural sweeteners, ingredient developers are introducing sweet proteins and advanced stevia derivatives such as Rebaudioside M and Reb D, which deliver cleaner sweetness without bitterness. Reb M is a darling of the ingredient producers, starting with Arzeda, a U.S.-based protein design company, is expanding production of its ProSweet Reb M stevia into Europe to meet rising demand from consumer-packaged goods (CPG) companies and support global growth. The expansion will boost Arzeda’s production capacity to more than 250 metric tons of ProSweet Reb M, a 95%-purity sweetener derived from stevia leaf extract. The company said this is equivalent to replacing 75,000 metric tons of sugar annually, or 18.75 billion servings, in a bid to help reduce excess sugar consumption.
But also Tate & Lyle PLC and Manus, which announces a strategic partnership, known as The Natural Sweetener Alliance, to expand access to natural sugar reduction solutions. The first ingredient to be jointly introduced is stevia Reb M, marking the first large-scale commercialisation of an all-Americas-sourced, manufactured, and bioconverted stevia Reb M ingredient.
Another example comes from PureCircle by Ingredion, which now offers ingredients from bioconversion in the United Kingdom – including Reb D and Reb M – in addition to its broad portfolio of existing stevia sweeteners and natural flavor modifiers, following the UK government publishing a new specification authorizing PureCircle by Ingredion’s range of steviol glycosides produced via bioconversion in the UK. As these sweeteners are already approved for use in the EU, this approval allowed food and beverage manufacturers to use the same stevia technologies in both markets.
Meanwhile, biotechnological and fermentation-based production methods are opening new pathways for cost-effective, high-purity sweeteners. Together, these developments are fuelling strong market expansion, with the next-generation sweetening ingredients segment projected to grow at nearly 7.9 % CAGR through 2034.
The In-between Solution
Rather than completely eliminating sugar, many bakeries are adopting hybrid sweetening strategies that combine established low-calorie ingredients to achieve a balanced sensory and functional profile. Sugar alcohols such as erythritol, xylitol, isomalt, and sorbitol are popular for partial sugar replacement, particularly in products requiring moderate sweetness.