Scandinavian food group MD Foods and Germany's Nordzucker sugar producer have formed a joint venture to begin commercial production of the sweetener tagatose in the summer of 2003. Tagatose was created by the US group Spherix, and MD Foods has the exclusive licence for the sweetener in food and beverage applications.
MD Foods' parent company Arla Foods said in a statement that the final decision on the exact nature of the joint venture with Nordzucker had not yet been made, although the likelihood was that the venture would begin making Gaio tagatose (as Arla calls the sweetener) at one of Nordzucker's plants in Nordstemmen near Hannover next summer.
If market acceptance of the sweetener is favourable, Arla said, the two companies would also begin producing Gaio tagatose at Arla's dairy plant in Taulov, Denmark.
The FDA has granted approval for the use of tagatose in food and beverage products, and Arla Foods has introduced several products containing tagatose in the US. However, Spherix was not happy at the time taken by the European firm to introduce these products, and will clearly hope that the European development will move at a faster pace, once approval is granted by the European Commission.
Spherix is also making progress on producing tagatose (under the brand name Naturlose) for non-food uses. A number of tests have been carried out in association with health product manufacturers, and negotiations are currently underway to secure production of Naturlose in the shortest possible time, Spherix said.