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Bars seem to be popular with everyone. Whether it’s a chocolate cereal bar for children or a protein bar for the more sports-oriented, there are countless possibilities for manufacturers to create special bar varieties.

Looking at cereal bars in more detail, for example, they’re generally made using binding ingredients such as syrup or sugar, which often results in unappealingly high sugar levels in the final formulation. During the last years, however, many consumers have become more health conscious and want to reduce their sugar intake. For manufacturers, this poses a challenge. Why? Because when the sugar concentration of the binder is reduced, texture can also be affected. In addition, the quality of the binder has a direct impact on water activity, shelf-life and processing requirements. With its gelatine and Bioactive Collagen Peptides (BCP^®s) GELITA provides ingredient options for manufacturers who want to meet the healthy snacking wishes of their consumers and ensure that their products score in terms of homogenous, special and superior textures.

The well-known PEPTIPLUS^® — along with specialized variants such as PEPTIPLUS^® LV, PEPTIPLUS^® HV and PEPTIPLUS^® UHV — can easily be used to create the ideal binding agent in a wide range of bar formulations. It makes a huge difference to the consumer experience whether the product is chewy, soft or crunchy, which can easily be managed by choosing the appropriate PEPTIPLUS^® variant. Yet, with GELITA Bioactive Collagen Peptides (BCP^®s), which can be combined with all the PEPTIPLUS^® variants, great tasting cereal bars can be given an extra benefit.

The same, of course, is true for protein bars. The GELITA^® Collagen Peptides portfolio enables manufacturers to develop products with a diverse array of soft, homogenous and special textures. In fact, they’re mandatory in bar formulations with a protein content of greater than 40%. In addition, PEPTIPLUS^®is suitable for formulations with a protein content of up to 55% and PEPTIPLUS^® XB LV raises the stakes even higher; it delivers both a superior protein bar texture and can lift the protein content of bars to more than 60%.

What’s more, it can even help to preserve the shelf-life of high protein bars by enhancing their stability. To cite an example, high protein bars with a protein content of 64% (40% PEPTIPLUS^® XB LV) were stored for 5 months in dry and ambient conditions. Subsequently, their texture was analyzed to simulate both mouthfeel and softness. Thickness was measured as well to evaluate the bar’s form stability.

Within the experimental time period, the bars maintained their softness and registered a force of less than 5000 g, which represents a soft and enjoyable texture (a force of up to 10,000 g is defined as soft and pleasant). Furthermore, the thickness of the bars remained stable, indicating good form stability with time. It was also discovered that a chocolate coating further improves the shelf-life of the bars and keeps them preserved for up to 12 months.

Sounds exciting, right? If you’d like to know more about concept solutions from GELITA, contact us today.