“Aside from understanding the natural purification approach by SWT, coupled with their deep knowledge on the foundations of sweetness, we have achieved in very short periods of time products where our customers cannot identify the level of sugar reduction”  Sean Traitratkeyoon, JuiceInnov8

Overview

Founded in 2014, Juiceinnov8 has set out to change the way that we enjoy traditional fruit-based drinks.

Using a similar process to the one used in the fermentation of wine, JuiceInnov8 have selected non-GM microbes from organic cultivars and used them to reduce the amount of sugars (and by extension, calories), contained in undiluted fruit juices – allowing producers to create healthy alternatives to traditionally high-sugar products.

The result of this revolutionary technology is a reduced sugar juice, but one that keeps the original flavors and taste entirely intact. This reduced sugar is used as a base, for other juices or beverages.

The partnership between SWT and Juiceinnov8 founder Sean Trairatkeyoon goes back 3 years. Sean, a food technology entrepreneur from Thailand, was involved in a breakthrough in technology used to reduce the sugar content in fruit juices – without affecting the outstanding nutrition or delicious flavour.

Using native yeasts selected and isolated from the peels of the oranges themselves, Juiceinnov8 and SWT have created a process which allows these yeasts to consume much of the sugar within the juice, leaving behind only water and CO2, which, once evaporated, gives consumers nothing but delicious, low-sugar juice that tastes no different from any other natural product, as well as retaining all the beneficial minerals and nutrients inside.

Approach

Natural fruit juices, which were once considered healthy thanks to their high nutrient, antioxidant and mineral content, have fallen out of favour in recent years, due to their high sugar content.

There have been previous attempts to resolve this dilemma – including enzymatic conversion into fibre – but our work with JuiceInnov8 has led to selective fermentation and provided consumers with the freedom to choose an all-natural process, in line with our stevia extraction methods.

To reduce sugar and replace the traditional sugars with identical, but healthy sweetness, we quickly understood the need to solve two key problems. Working closely together, the issues of how to reduce sugar and produce the perfect blend of juices was quickly resolved and the final product was outstanding.

The feedback from clients has been excellent. Sean feels that the flexibility, adaptability and the technical knowledge of the science between sweetness has made a critical difference to product development, and the final juice has proved impossible to distinguish from traditional fruit drinks.

Our results

Our collaboration with Sean and JuiceInnov8 has led to an understanding of the sweetness profiles of the naturally occurring sugars in the juice. The carefully designed product is an incredible, low-sugar drink with 50% less natural sugar than the original juice, while maintaining everything that makes juices natural, healthy and delicious.

JuiceInnov8 launched Incredible™ Juice, a zero sugar juice platform, dedicated for beverage industry in 2021. Incredible™ Juice becomes a building block for the next generations of beverage; from Incredible™ Sparkling Juice with 75% less sugar, to Incredible™ Fruit Tea—a healthier concept with more than 50% less sugar for food service & teahouses in the APAC market.

Product reception

In Thailand, JuiceInnov8 has proved a huge success, with sales in national chains, including Alto Coffee. The company  has gone on to win a number of awards for their innovation and for their incredible, healthy juice. Thanks to this success, incredible Juice was a finalist in the Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas 2021 contest – in no small part thanks to the expert technical partnership with SWT that has allowed JuiceInnov8 to return the sweetness to all the products in the Incredible Juice range, without ever compromising on the original taste.

What comes next

Thanks to the technology developed by JuiceInnov8, other fruit juice products can be altered to remove the harmful excess sugars – from full juices to juice-containing products. The expertise gained by SWT in reconstructing sweetness profiles means that for consumers and producers, the difference between a 50% reduced sugar and an untreated juice should prove completely indistinguishable – providing almost limitless possibilities for application.

For JuiceInnov8, a series of exciting collaborations – including with global energy drinks giant Red Bull also beckons.