NEW FLAVORS KEEP COMING IN SUGAR-FREE

RICHARD TURCSIK

New flavors and product lines continue to diversify the sugar-free candy category.

Philadelphia-based Sorbee International has introduced a line of Crystal Light sugar-free candies under license from White Plains, N.Y.-based Kraft Foods, the manufacturer of the popular Crystal Light sugar-free drink mix.

The candies are available in tropical, fruit, lemonade and ice tea flavors and will be supported with a 75-cent-off coupon toward the purchase of the drink mix.

"The Crystal Light brand from Kraft is one of the most powerful brands in the sugar-free food category. It has a great consumer following, appealing to both consumers on reduced-sugar diets as well as mainstream consumers -- both adults and children," said Sasha Taylor, vice president of sales and marketing for Sorbee.

GoLightly Candy Co., Hillside, N.J., has added Sugar Free Cappuccino Chews and Sugar Free Toffees to its stable of sugar-free candies.

Sugar Free Cappuccino Chews are available in 15-pound bulk cases and are sweetened with Hydrogenated Starch Hydrolysate and NutraSweet.

GoLightly Sugar Free Toffees are handmade in France by master candy craftsmen, and are available in vanilla, chocolate, coffee and peanut flavors. They are sweetened with Maltitol and NutraSweet and available in 3.5-ounce peg bags and 15-pound bulk cases.

Mead Johnson Nutritionals, Evansville, Ind., has introduced Choice dm Nutrition Bars, billed as the only nutritionally complete bar designed for the those with diabetes and clinically proven to control a rise in blood sugar.

"Many people with diabetes have episodes of low blood sugar and will eat a candy bar or snack bar to raise it," said Dave Cook, vice president of global research and development at Mead Johnson Nutritionals. "But the challenge is to keep blood sugar from rising too high, and that's where Choice dm can prove helpful."

Choice dm contains resistant starch, a unique controlled-release source of carbohydrates that helps control the rise in blood-sugar levels. Choice dm Nutrition Bars are available in Peanutty Chocolate and Fudge Brownie flavors at retail pharmacy chains, mass merchandisers and by mail from NutriLine, a division of Mead Johnson.