Finnish foodservice business, Fazer, is entering the xylitol market after investing €40 million in a manufacturing facility in Lahti to produce the sweetener from oat hulls.
The oat hulls – which contain xyclose – will be predominantly derived as a side-stream from the oat milling process.
“We believe that xylitol from a plant-based Nordic raw material with a Nordic origin will create interest also outside Finland and the Nordic countries, even globally,” Christoph Vitzthum, President and CEO of Fazer Group.
“We plan to expand the xylitol production to our mill in Sweden, too.”
Until now, the production process needed to produce xylitol from oat hulls had not been commercially utilised.
Fazer said the facility, which will be built next to its oat mill on the Lahti site, will be the first fully backward integrated xylitol manufacturing facility in the world capable of producing many forms of xylitol.
