Clean-label ingredients supplier Ulrick & Short has launched a new sugar replacer for use in biscuits.

Called Avanté B, the product has been developed for products with short, brittle textures, such as digestive biscuits and shortbreads, said the company.

It added the product was easy to apply to existing recipes and could reduce sugar by up to 20% while mimicking the texture, volume and bite sugar provided.

The launch follows the latest update on the progress of Public Health England’s sugar reduction targets, showing an average reduction of only 2.9% in the targeted food categories.

“Sweet bakery products, like biscuits, have been targeted because, by design, they are sugar- and calorie-dense. Unfortunately, because of this, sugar also plays a critical functional role in a biscuit’s structure and bite, so it is notoriously difficult to reduce sugar content,” said Danni Schroeter, R&D manager at Ulrick & Short.

“This most recent report is a bit of a wake-up call for manufacturers, and one way or another, some form of further regulation is an inevitability. Avanté B allows manufacturers to be proactive in their product reformulation by developing healthier products and pre-empting any extensions to these so-called ‘sin taxes’.”