Tate & Lyle unveils ‘light’ sugar variant

Tate & Lyle is responding to increasing fears over obesity by launching Tate & Lyle Light, a product that has 33 per cent less calories than ordinary sugar. It is talking to advertising agencies about developing a £3.5m launch campaign when it

Tate & Lyle is responding to increasing fears over obesity by launching Tate & Lyle Light, a product that has 33 per cent less calories than ordinary sugar. It is talking to advertising agencies about developing a £3.5m launch campaign when it rolls out to a wider market.

Tate & Lyle Light, which is being test-marketed in Sainsbury’s, is lower in calories because it contains a cane sugar blend, a no- calorie sweetener called Sucralose and a bulking agent called Maltodextrin, which helps to give the product a sugar-like texture.

A Tate & Lyle spokeswoman says that the Light product has been developed to give consumers more choice. It can be used in hot drinks and in cooking and baking. It will have the familiar blue and white Tate & Lyle packaging and will cost 99p for a 600g pack compared with 68p for a 1kg bag of ordinary sugar.

The low-calorie and sweetener market is developing quickly as concerns over obesity and high-sugar products grow. Tate & Lyle and its joint venture partner McNeil Nutritionals (part of Johnson & Johnson) already distribute the Splenda brand. Merisant Worldwide is to reposition rival Canderel as a premium product by redesigning packaging.