Research conducted by a group of Vietnamese scientists in the Food Industries Research Institute (FIRI) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade is close to developing a technological process to produce trehalose sugar in order to replace imported products used in the food processing industry.
Trehalose sugar is a naturally occurring low-energy sugar used as a substitute in production of food and beverages. Products made with trehalose are said to have high nutritional value and help prevent diabetes. Its function is similar to that of sucrose, but it is more stable and has a milder sweetness. There are 2 kinds of trehalose sugar – one with 45% purity used directly as a supplement or sweetener in food processing; and one with 70% purity often used for diet products.
Presently, most of the trehalose used in Vietnam is imported and its prices are relatively high. Therefore, local production of the powder is beneficial to the F&B industry in general.
So far, this research has successfully created MTSase and MTHase recombinant enzymes with a capacity of 50 litres of fermentation per batch and developed a technological process for trehalose sugar production at a capacity of 500kg of raw material per batch.
Vietnam currently has no facility to produce trehalose sugar while the demand is very high. The research team wishes to perfect the technology and equipment line in order to produce high-quality trehalose products at reasonable prices for both domestic food and pharmaceutical companies.
