From orange juice to cocoa powder: T. Hasegawa addresses supply-chain issues with replacers

“It used to be that there would be a stressed commodity once every five to seven years, and it was usually the same culprits. It would be cocoa powder or gum arabic, or there would be some commodity that got into trouble. Vanilla is a great example. If a typhoon hit Madagascar, the whole world of vanilla blew up. But it was not that often,” Mark Webster, VP of sales and business development for T. Hasegawa, told FoodNavigator-USA.   

He added, “What we see now is just accelerating where now we are seeing one, two [or three stressed commodities] a year, and ... it is just all happening at the same time.”  

Orange juice supply-chain feels the squeeze from citrus greening

Orange Juice Replacer comes in both a powdered and liquid form and is available in either not-from concentrate or from concentrate options. These replacers can be used in beverages, beverage syrups, juices, frozen drinks and more, according to the company.

T. Hasegawa released its all-natural Orange Juice Replacer in response to the bacterial disease Huanglongbing — better known as citrus greening — which decimated citrus crops over the last decade, especially in North America. Citrus trees infected with greening often produce fewer fruits and die within years of the infection, and fruits from infected trees are often bitter-tasting.

“We have an Orange Juice Replacer that can replace pure orange juice, where ... the potential is in the from concentrate version. So, you think about fruit juice blends, where you are not claiming 100% natural orange juice — that is the logical place for this. It is not 100% replacement. You are in that 20-40% range of replacing pure issues. We are just trying to help relieve the pressure on something that does not look to be coming back. There is no cure for this,” Webster elaborated.   

While a cure for citrus greening remains elusive, recently a team of researchers from the Florida International University and the United States Department of Agriculture examined​ 324 endophytes of survivor citrus trees and identified five bacterial endophytes that can produce antimicrobials that kill the citrus greening bacteria. Further research is required to increase the production of these antimicrobials, the research team noted.

Just as CPG companies face sourcing challenges, T. Hasegawa developed the replacers with only “fractions” of orange juice and cocoa powder, which makes the flavor company less susceptible to supply-chain shocks that may happen in the future, Webster explained.

“There are fractions of things from cocoa powder used in the replacer, but there would be no stress on our supply chain, and the same thing goes for the Orange Juice Replacer. We are not putting orange juice in it. These are natural chemicals that are found in oranges,” he explained.  

Cocoa replacers find ‘sweet spot at about 30-40% reduction of cocoa powder’

A week prior to the Orange Juice Replacer announcement, T. Hasegawa’s introduced its portfolio of liquid and solid cocoa replacers, available in natural cocoa powder, alkalized high fat and black alkalized, Webster said.

These replacers can be used in a variety of applications, including protein shakes and bars, snacks, beverage syrups, creamers and more, he added. Similarly, T. Hasegawa “found the sweet spot at about 30-40% reduction of cocoa powder” which can be done “at either cost neutral or cost savings versus using cocoa powder at current market prices,” Webster explained.

“Cocoa powder is a very unique material in terms of its chemical and molecular makeup, so it was not just a matter of let's put some chemicals together and make it taste like chocolate. It was a joint effort between our parent company in Tokyo at a very deep analytical level with our R&D group in the USA to really analyze what is in cocoa powder,” Webster elaborated.

The Ivory Coast and Ghana experienced an outbreak of cocoa swollen shoot virus disease (CSSVD), drought and weather events, which led to poor cocoa yields, driving cocoa prices up this year, he explained. CSSVD is a pathogenic virus that infects cacao trees and reduces yields and attributes to 17% of the cocoa production loss annually, as shared in a previous Confectionery News article​.

“There was a breakout of disease, which affected the trees that grow the big cocoa pods, and the trees themselves are just stressed. They are getting older. It takes a long time to grow a tree and to bear fruit, and all of these things came together at the same time, and a one metric ton cocoa powder price quadrupled in only within 8-12 weeks. And when you consider that the entire world of food and beverages relies on that 60% from Ivory Coast and Ghana, the rest cannot satisfy [demand],” Webster explained.  

T. Hasegawa comes together to address supply chain concerns

The orange juice and cocoa replacers came out of T. Hasegawa’s Innovation Day, an internal event where employees can share their research and pitch the executive team on new product ideas, Webster explained.

“This area of replacers is not new to us. We have done some in the past, but this year, we were presented [with cocoa and orange juice replacers] as part of our annual Innovation Day. ... And this actually won Innovation Day this year. So, I was so excited about it, after having tasted it and heard the story, that we decided to put some effort behind it to promote this,” he elaborated.

Additionally, T. Hasegawa is exploring other commodities that could benefit from replacers, including coffee, Webster explained.