Beneo-Orafti has launched a liquid organic fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) called L58, offering companies a prebiotic ingredient for the rapidly growing organic sector.
The ingredient, produced from organic sugar, received organic certification from BCS Oko, Germany, under the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) standards. The company said that samples of L58 Organic are already available to US food producers, with full production planned to go online this month to supply the US market.
A recent report from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said that the organic market has experienced “double-digit growth for well over a decade”, and that organic consumers have become “increasingly mainstream”.
Although certified organic acreage has doubled in the US since 1997, organic food sales have quintupled over the same period, from $3.6bn to $21.1bn last year. Fruit and vegetables still represent the biggest sub-sector of organic food sales at 37 per cent, followed by dairy at 16 per cent, and beverages and packaged foods at 13 percent each.
Areas of fastest growth include the organic beverage sector, which grew by 40 percent in 2008, and organic breads and grains, which achieved 35 per cent growth over the year. Orafti said that the its L58 Organic ingredient can be used as both a prebiotic fiber for the promotion of good digestive health, and as a sugar substitute in applications such as yogurt, ice cream, breakfast cereals and cereal bars.
Source: Food Navigator