Determination of Fermentable Sugars in Plant-based Beverages

In plant-based milk, sugars such as glucose, fructose, maltose, maltotriose and sucrose are important components from both a nutritional and technological point of view. Their presence mainly derives from the transformation of starches during the processing of raw materials. Accurately measuring these sugars is essential to evaluate the caloric content, the glycemic index and to ensure correct nutritional labelling, for example for declarations such as "no added sugars" or "low sugar". From a food safety and quality point of view, monitoring sugar levels is important to avoid unwanted phenomena such as spontaneous fermentations during storage, thus contributing to the microbiological stability and shelf-life of the product.