South Korea-based food manufacturer Samyang has completed the construction of a large-scale allulose and prebiotics plant in the Nam-gu district of Ulsan, South Korea.
The new manufacturing facility entails an investment of around KRW140bn ($104m).
It spans a total floor area of 22,150m2 and comprises two buildings, one for allulose production and the other for prebiotics, with 25,000 tons per annum production capacity.
In addition to the opening of the new plant, the company is advancing the expansion of its market share for alternative sweeteners both domestically and internationally.
Samyang CEO Choi Nag-hyun said: “We have successfully completed the phased construction plan of the comprehensive Specialty Plant to strengthen our speciality business strategy.
“With the establishment of the largest allulose plant in Korea, we are committed to enhancing our competitiveness in the domestic and international alternative sugar markets.
“This speciality plant will serve as a growth engine for the next 100 years of Samyang Group’s food business and will become a core base for providing health and wellness value to our customers both domestically and globally.”
Samyang’s new allulose plant features an annual production capacity of 13,000 tons, four times larger than the previous capacity, and is equipped to produce both liquid and crystalline allulose.
Allulose, a rare sugar found naturally, is an alternative sweetener that is about 70% as sweet as sugar but contains zero calories and is considered a next-generation alternative sweetener.
It offers a sweetness comparable to fructose and has the added benefit of creating a flavour similar to sugar through a caramelisation reaction when heated.
In 2019, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) excluded allulose from the total and added sugars labelling on processed foods, as the product possesses no calories.
Samyang started the development of liquid allulose in 2016, using its in-house enzyme technology, followed by the launch of mass production in 2020.
In the same year, the company obtained the Generally Recognised as Safe (GRAS) certification from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The new prebiotics plant produces resistant dextrin and fructo-oligosaccharide powder.
Resistant dextrin is a soluble dietary fibre and food ingredient that promotes normal bowel movements, controls post-meal blood sugar spikes and improves blood lipid levels.
Fructo-oligosaccharide is another type of healthy functional food ingredient that supports the growth of beneficial intestinal bacteria and aids in bowel regularity.
Samyang intends to use the new manufacturing plant as a strategic base to propose differentiated solutions by linking allulose and prebiotics.
Also, it aims to expand its reach into North America, Japan, Southeast Asia, and beyond.
The South Korean food company is already pursuing Novel Food approval in Australia and New Zealand, signalling a tangible path toward market expansion.
Furthermore, Samyang aims to more than double the revenue share and overseas sales ratio of its speciality business by 2030.
