Soft serve has become the most popular dietary supplement dosage form today. However, consumers aren’t satisfied with that. They want to embrace not only fudge as a dosage form, but also plant-based fudge.

Today, we are focusing on the major problems faced by plant-based gummies and the related solutions. We hope that this article will bring some inspiration and help to the relevant industry players and readers.

Rejecting gelatin

Gummies are a convenient and interesting dosage form. Among dietary supplements, gummies often imply higher consumer compliance.

Gelatin is one of the most common basic ingredients in traditional gummies, and it’s also one of the most used polymers in such products. However, today’s consumers have become more discerning, and they also expect gummy products to match specific lifestyle and dietary restrictions.

Currently, more than 7.5 million people worldwide follow specific diets such as vegetarian, kosher and halal ^diets1, so in order to meet the needs of this segment of consumers, it is important that manufacturers offer supplement products that do not contain any animal by-products like gelatin.

Common plant-based gels used to replace gelatin include pectin, starch, carrageenan, agar and gum arabic. Depending on the desired textural and organoleptic properties, these gel ingredients are often used individually or in combination. Pectin is the most commonly used gel-forming agent: from May 2020 to May 2021, one in two dietary supplements in gummy form will contain ^pectin2.

The same production and processing challenges exist for gummies in non-gelatin systems. For reference, we have listed below a list of common problems and their solutions during the vegetable-based conversion of gummy formulations.

Problem 1: How to solve the viscosity change?

When gelatin is removed from a formulation, the overall percentage of gel polymers in it is likely to be reduced, but the thermal viscosity profile of the other polymers in the formulation may have changed as well, such as plant-based ingredients that tend to have higher melt viscosities. One of the best ways to minimize the occurrence of gel aggregation and sinking, pre-gelation, etc. is to make sure that your heating and transfer equipment is jacketed and that it is rated for application at temperatures that cover the higher temperatures required for plant-based formulations.

For plant-based formulations, the temperature normally needs to be maintained above 85°C throughout the production process. It is important that you ensure that your equipment is capable of achieving and maintaining this temperature before changing formulations.

Question 2: How is textural stability ensured?

While it is important to promote moderate hydration of gelatin by heating, it is even more important to ensure the degree of hydration for gel polymers such as pectin.

In order to achieve the right degree of hydration of pectin and to ensure textural stability of the final product from batch to batch, it is essential that the temperature does not fall below 85°C during the initial hydration phase of the pectin-water mix. Therefore, ensuring that the mixing vessel reaches and maintains this temperature throughout the hydration phase is critical to achieving successful mass production.

Problem 3: Sensitivity to Acidic Ingredients

Most gel polymers are somewhat sensitive to acidic ingredients. Highly esterified pectins require pH control to gel, so if an acidic ingredient (such as ascorbic acid or citric acid) is added too early in the process to lower the pH of the gel system, the pre-gelation process can cause problems with the entire batch.

Additionally, when using polymers such as algal extracts, continued exposure to low pH environmental systems may cause gel breakdown, making the final gel structure weak or unstable. To minimize the potential for pre-gelation and unstable gel structures, special attention needs to be paid to the timing of the addition of those ingredients used to lower the pH of the gel system to ensure that they are added close enough to the time of gel formation.

Question 4: How do I maintain the desired pH?

Highly esterified pectin, the most common gelatin replacement ingredient, relies on a certain pH mechanism to develop the soft sugar texture of the end product. This is different from the thermal gelatinization mechanism of gelatin and seaweed extracts.

As mentioned above, special attention needs to be paid to the timing of the addition of those ingredients that lower the pH of the gel system to ensure that they are added close enough to the time of gel formation. However, special attention also needs to be paid to the selection of a suitable buffer system (e.g. sodium citrate) to ensure that the acidity of the gel is maintained in the desired range (pH around 3.2-4.0, depending on the composition of the formulation) throughout the shelf-life of the fondant.

In addition, when pectin is used to replace gelatin, the pH of the product system is likely to change. Therefore, for the active ingredients in the product, it is also important to assess whether their stability changes at lower pH conditions.

Question 5: How is the temperature controlled?

One of the major benefits of using plant-based polymers in place of gelatin is that it enhances the thermal stability of the fondant end product. However, with this increased thermal stability comes the need for higher temperatures in the process to facilitate gel dispersion, and the subsequent need for process variation.

In order to ensure that the gel system is not at a temperature where colloid aggregation and sinking can easily occur and cause product failure, controlling the right temperature during mixing, heating and blending becomes critical. Additionally, drying conditions need to be optimized, as plant-based gummies are likely to gel faster, so drying or drying times can be reduced.

The future looks promising

Converting from a gelatin base to a vegetable-based base is bound to be challenging for fondant formulations. But these technical challenges can be overcome, and there is an excellent opportunity to expand the consumer base as it meets the needs of the modern consumer.