Maltose (Malt sugar)

Description

Maltose (malt sugars) is an important part of malt and occurs in many plants, but is also found in beer, bread or honey. Chemically, maltose is a disaccharide that consists of two glucose units.

• Under natural conditions maltose develops through microorganisms that degrade starch with help of their enzymes. The technical production occurs in a similar fashion by the enzymatic break down of plant starch.

Application

Contrary to saccharose, maltose has minor sweetening power. It has a caramel-like taste and is mostly used:

• for baking goods, beverages, confectionary, liquors, infant food
• in form of maltitol, increasingly as a sugar substitute in sugar-free or sugar-reduced products.

Gene technology

Maltose accrues from starch that is split by enzymes. Gene technological applications are possible for starch as well as for enzymes.

• Raw material: maize starch can partly consist of genetically modified maize , especially when raw materials are imported out of the USA or Argentina. In the EU, genetically modified maize is grown on a comparatively small area and nonetheless is not used as raw material for foodstuff. This may change in the case that the cultivation of GM maize increases in significance. Ingredients derived from several types of GM maize are approved in the EU. In the future also: starch from potatoes and wheat.
  
• Enzymes solubilise plant starch and metabolise it into compounds that are distinguished as ingredients and additives. Several of these enzymes are produced with help of GM microorganisms such as amylases, glucose-isomerase, and pullulanase. These are mainly won from GM microorganisms.

Labelling: starch based ingredients are required to be labelled, if they are directly produced of GM plants (e.g. maize). Whether this also applies to maltose that results by way of various processing stages of starch, is not yet explicitly clarified.

Enzymes and their manner of production are generally not declared on the list of ingredients.