Better Juice has signed a joint venture with food & beverage process engineering giant GEA Group, as it strives to scale up its sugar-reduction technology. 

Better Juice Ltd – the Israel-based, sugar-reduction foodTech start-up – has announced a collaboration with Germany’s GEA Group AG, a world leader in process engineering for the food and beverage sectors, in a push to scale up and expand its global footprint. This move comes as part of Better Juice’s commitment to transform the global juice industry through advancing its technology for reducing all sugars in orange juices.

Innovative sugar-reduction solution

Better Juice and GEA TDS GmbH, a subsidiary of the engineering group, agreed to collaboratively construct and install the sugar reduction innovative solution to reduce all types of sugars in orange juice and market the system globally. 

Under this strategic partnership, GEA will engineer, design, manufacture, and install the bioreactor that reduces sugars via Better Juice’s proprietary enzymatic process. Better Juice will produce the immobilised micro-organisms for the enzymatic process.

Maintaining natural nutritional values and prebiotic benefits

The agreement contributes to Better Juice’s goals of broadening its outreach and support to the global juice industry. The company’s breakthrough technology effectively solves the sugar-reduction conundrum without negatively impacting the natural nutritional values and prebiotic benefits of fresh orange juice – a key challenge in this effort.

The start-up’s enzymatic technology uses all-natural ingredients to convert fructose, glucose, and sucrose into prebiotic dietary fibres and other non-digestible molecules. Remarkably, this can reduce up to 80 per cent of sugars in orange juice. Better Juice’s non-GMO technology is designed to target the specific sugar composition in orange juice to naturally create a low-calorie, reduced-sugar product with a delicate sweetness, without sweeteners or other additives used to replace the sugars.

A milestone in Better Juice’s scale-up plans

“This exciting collaboration marks a major milestone in Better Juice’s scale-up plans and advances the commercialisation of our technology,” explained Eran Blachinsky PhD, CEO of Better Juice, which was established in December 2017 by a team of biochemists and microbiologists – each with extensive experience in product development, from industry and from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The company received its funding and is supported by The Kitchen Hub, Strauss Group’s food-tech incubator, Maverick Ventures Israel, and other global partners. 

“GEA possesses a sterling reputation in the field of process technology and will be a strong engineering partner. This collaboration will allow for smooth integration of our enzymatic technology into juice production companies seeking to meet the sugar-reduction trend. It will undoubtedly open doors for us and accelerate sales growth internationally,” he added.

Supporting development of sugar-reduced juices

“GEA is constantly seeking to work with companies developing innovative solutions and cutting-edge, sustainable technologies that benefit consumers’ nutrition and lifestyles,” says Colm O’Gorman, Head of Sales Management for GEA’s Global Technology Center for Non-Alcoholic Beverages. “Better Juice is an excellent fit, and we are eager to help them develop the market for sugar-reduced juices,” he added.

GEA will design three instruments with small, medium, large production capacities within several months, in order to address various requirements of juice companies. The 200-litre device will launch within a few months. Each device will be customised to the manufacturer’s needs and limitations, with Better Juice and GEA providing full-service support. “This means that Better Juice can become a global player in the sugar-reduction market, with local support and service teams in each country,” explained Gali Yarom, Co-founder, COO, and VP of Business Development for Better Juice.