In recent years, a notable trend has emerged in the beverage industry— the rise of sugar-free and no-added sugar plant-based drinks. Awareness about the negative effects of excessive sugar consumption, such as obesity, diabetes, and other chronic diseases, has prompted individuals to seek healthier beverage options. As health-conscious consumers increasingly seek healthier alternatives to traditional sugary beverages, and as environmental concerns become more prominent, the demand for plant-based drinks has skyrocketed.
The “no added sugar” claim is a significant aspect of food labelling that holds immense importance. This claim signifies that a product does not have additional sugars added during formulation or manufacturing.
Innovation is key at Meurens Natural and has played a vital role in the development of our oat bases that can be used to formulate “sugar-free” and “no-added sugar” oat drinks. All our ingredients are being produced via a fully natural production process.
We recently launched Sipa-Oat 17 (organic) and Natu-Oat 17 (natural). These oat bases are so low in sugar content, they can be used to formulate sugar-free oat drinks (<0,5 g of sugar / 100 g of product). By opting for foods with a “sugar-free” claim, consumers can make more informed choices to reduce their overall sugar intake, helping to mitigate various health risks. On top of that, oat drinks based on Sipa-Oat 17 or Natu-Oat 17 provide a creamy mouthfeel, excellent texture, and taste. They are also available in gluten-free versions. As a result, consumers no longer need to compromise on taste when opting for healthier, sugar-free choices. Of course, these ingredients are not limited to only oat drinks, but can also be used to formulate vegan ice cream, desserts, and many more.
Sipa-Oat 17 & Natu-Oat 17: the perfect ingredient for a tasty, sugar-free sustainable future
OAT 17 SYRUP/BASES (SIPA® OAT 17 – NATU® OAT 17)
Our organic or natural liquid oat syrup DE17 is obtained by the hydrolysis of oat flour using natural GMO-free enzymes. Oat Syrup has a dark orange color, with an oat flavor. Oat syrup/base that can be used for sugar-free formulations come in a dextrose equivalence of 17. They are particularly popular nowadays in the production of sugar-free drinks and other “low sugar”, “no-added sugar” or “sugar-free” products such as yogurts, desserts, biscuits, ice cream, and much more. In addition, they offer you the possibility of having a clean label. These products can be declared as oat (%), unrefined oat syrup, oat extract or oat base depending on the application.
OAT SYRUP/BASES (SIPA® OAT 17 – NATU® OAT 17) GLUTEN FREE
Why gluten-free?
Gluten is a protein that is naturally found in some grains such as wheat, barley, and rye. It acts like a binder, holding food together and giving a “stretchy” quality to a product such as dough.
Although gluten is not at all harmful to healthy individuals, it can cause serious side effects in certain individuals who are gluten intolerant. Some people react differently to gluten, where the body senses it as a toxin, causing the immune cells to overreact and attack it. If a gluten intolerant or gluten sensitive person continues to eat gluten, this creates inflammation. The side effects can range from being mild (fatigue, bloating, alternating constipation, and diarrhea) to severe (unintentional weight loss, malnutrition, intestinal damage) as seen in the autoimmune disorder celiac disease.
As a market, the development and demand of more and more gluten-free products is being driven by increasing incidence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and celiac diseases.
Our Natu® and Sipa® Oat gluten-free syrups/bases DE 17 are liquid oat syrups/base obtained by the hydrolysis of gluten-free oat flour using natural GMO-free enzymes.
At Meurens Natural, we offer two distinct qualities of gluten-free. One is standard gluten-free (<20 ppm of gluten) and the other one is our gluten-free ND quality which has a gluten content of < 5 ppm (below detection limit).
OAT 17 EXTRACT POWDER (SIPADRY® OAT 17 – NATUDRY® OAT 17)
Our dehydrated oat syrup is an oat powder obtained by hydrolysis of oat flour using natural GMO-free enzymes which are then dried. This powder comes with a beige color and an oat flavor. Oat extract powder is available with a dextrose equivalence of 17 (and one of 25).
Oat powder can be used to reconstitute oat drinks or in food preparations where liquids are not favorable, for example in chocolate. It can provide a cereal flavor, crispness, viscosity, prevent crystallization, or simply be used as a bulking agent to give volume to a product without adding refined sugar. Easy to formulate and you can simply declare it as oat powder. In particular, Natudry®Oat 17 can be used to reformulate maltodextrins.
Our oat powders also come in standard gluten-free (<20 ppm) and gluten-free ND (< 5 ppm) quality.
Besides our Oat 17 bases/syrups and powders, we offer a wide range of oat ingredients with different dextrose equivalence values (ranging from DE 17 to DE 70). Our higher DE oat syrups/bases also allow for a “no-added sugar” claim since they contain natural sugars.
Meurens Natural: Sustainable Innovation at its core
Meurens Natural has been a pioneer in the organic sector and has been focused on producing clean-label organic and natural cereal extracts for more than 30 years. With a unique and innovative production process, that is 100% in line with the organic philosophy, we can offer our customers ingredients that are all-natural and organic.
As the European specialist in cereal hydrolysis, Meurens Natural can hydrolyze a wide variety of cereals. Our production process is clean, simple, and environmentally friendly. It provides the following advantages: no use of chemical additives, no conventional processing methods such as the use of ion exchange resins for demineralizing (refining), a complete traceability from the raw material up to the syrup, and all characteristics of the processed cereal are preserved to the maximum: taste, color, and minerals. This allows for short, clear, and clean labelling. Using a wide variety of sugar structures, dextrose equivalents (DE), sweetness, viscosities, colors, flavors, and raw materials, the Sipal ® (organic) and Natu® (conventional) ranges can achieve a multitude of objectives for all preparations in the food processing sectors. Our latest innovations include millet syrups, potato-maize syrups, organic and conventional rice, and oat proteins.
