Lycored, a global leader in natural lycopene-based color and taste-enhancing ingredients for food and beverages has stepped up for 2022 with ready ingredient solutions for the pizza industry to help it reduce the amount of added sugar and salt in sauce and crust recipes.
According to Pizza.com, more than 5 billion pizzas are consumed around the world every year. “Global consumption of the world’s most popular food combination is expanding at an exponential rate,” notes Tammi Higgins, Senior Vice President of Food at Lycored.
“However, as pizza’s market grows, and tastes and regulations change, every segment of the food industry, especially this one, is being challenged to deliver more authenticity and taste with less salt and sugar and zero artificial ingredients.”
Global health agencies agree there is too much salt and added sugar in prepared foods, especially pizza sauce and crusts.
Lycored offers both SANTE and CTC (Clear Tomato Concentrate) as part of their Real Food Ingredients portfolio from the company’s highly cultured tomatoes. Both are non-GMO and can be declared as either ‘tomato concentrate’ or ‘natural flavor’ depending on local regulations.
SANTE is a taste-enhancing solution that allows a reduction in sodium by 65% in some applications. CTC is a liquid serum that harnesses the balance of acidity and high Brix sweetness of tomatoes to bring smoothness and complexity to savory products. Together, SANTE and CTC allow for a 30% sodium reduction and 100% added sugar removal from pizza sauce. Additionally, SANTE provides a 30% sodium reduction in pizza crust as well.
California’s tomato shortage is also threatening to raise the cost of the most important pizza topping next to cheese, the sauce.
“Tomatoes are likely to be in short supply for the foreseeable future,” explains Lycored’s Higgins, “With less tomato paste manufacturers will be challenged to control product color and shelf life of frozen retail pizzas. With the addition of Lycofibers (for texture and viscosity) and CTC to add taste back, pizza makers can significantly extend tomato paste supply.”
For pizza sauces and similar recipes reducing key “structural” ingredients like tomato paste can be especially challenging. Lycored research and customer experience has shown that with LycoFibers, manufacturers can extend tomato paste supply by up to 25%, deliver a smooth texture to sauces and eliminate less attractive ingredients such as starches and emulsifiers.
Lycored carefully manages and controls its own tomato supply which has allowed the company to sustain its operations and limit the impact of drought or natural disasters.
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