And now roshogulla sans sinful sugar

How often do you get those guilt pangs while gulping down that high-calorie roshogulla? Can’t have a mouthful of your favourite dessert...

How often do you get those guilt pangs while gulping down that high-calorie roshogulla? Can’t have a mouthful of your favourite dessert just because there’s no ‘sugar-free’ option?

Take heart. For those keeping a watch on their calories, and wary of losing those curves, here’s the good news: The government has permitted use of artificial sweeteners in about 25 food items including carbonated water, soft drink concentrate, sugar/sugar free confectionery, chewing gum, biscuits, breads, cakes and pastries, traditional sweets like halwa, gulab jamun and roshogulla, and others. India was perhaps the only country where use of ‘artificial sweeteners’ in foods items was regulated till now.

According to a notification amending the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Rules 1955, and issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on June 25, the use of artificial sweeteners has been allowed in food items as per the limits prescribed and under proper label declarations.

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Marketing of any food article containing artificial sweeteners was hitherto regulated by the standards prescribed in the PFA Rules, 1955. However, in case of carbonated water and soft drink concentrates, the use of a combination of two artificial sweeteners ‘aspertame’ and ‘acesulfame’ was allowed in 1999. The present notification permits use of four artificial sweeteners like saccharin, aspertame, acesulfame and sucralose in combination, within prescribed limits.

The change in the food law opens up a vast untapped market of sugar-free food products including sugar-free confectionery. It will be not surprising to see a host of food majors like Nestle, Britannia, ITC, HLL and others jumping on to cash in on the high potential sector of diabetics and calorie-conscious consumers.

Welcoming the amendment, the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) marketing chief R.S. Sodhi, however, expressed that the market for sugar-free products, at present was very small. ‘‘It’s a niche segment,’’ he said. ‘‘Besides, distribution of such products is also difficult,’’ he added. According to Sodhi, sugar-free ice-creams market could be a potential area the co-operative could tap, provided regulations permit.

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