Bulk D-Allulose
D-allulose is made from corn-derived fructose through enzymatic conversion, which is why Source86 qualifies plants rather than farms. Today that means South Korea and China, both running the same specification, so a buyer isn’t tied to a single facility. The rare monosaccharide (D-psicose) ships as coarse crystalline material, milled powder, or clear liquid syrup, each at commercial purity with no carrier or bulking agent added.
Food manufacturers reach for it when a reformulation needs to drop sugar without losing the mass and mouthfeel sugar provides, in beverages, dairy and frozen desserts, baked goods, confections, and nutrition products.
If you are evaluating D-allulose for your formulation, reach out to our sales team so we can share all the information you’ll. need.
Product Data
| Identity | D-allulose, also called D-psicose, a ketohexose monosaccharide and the C-3 epimer of D-fructose. CAS 551-68-8, molecular formula C6H12O6, molecular weight 180.16. |
|---|---|
| Plant Part | Caryopsis (seed kernel) with the inedible hull removed. |
| Raw Material Source | Corn-derived glucose syrup, isomerized to fructose and then enzymatically epimerized to allulose. No botanical extraction step is involved. |
| Grades | Food grade across all three formats. Organic is not offered, since the enzymatic conversion and chromatographic separation route has no established certified path |
| Sugar Profile | Crystalline and powder run allulose 98% minimum with fructose 1.5% maximum and glucose 0.5% maximum. Syrup runs allulose 90% minimum of solids with fructose 8% maximum and glucose 2% maximum, reflecting the unconverted sugars carried through separation |
| Brix / Soluble Solids | Syrup at 70 to 72 degrees Brix. |
| Moisture | 0.5% maximum for crystalline and powder; 28 to 30% for syrup as the balance of solids |
| pH | 4.0 to 6.5 in a 10% aqueous solution for solid formats; 3.5 to 5.5 as supplied for syrup |
| Color | Crystalline and powder are white. Syrup is colorless to pale straw at 60 ICUMSA units maximum |
| Appearance | Crystalline material is a free-flowing granular solid, powder is a fine uniform white solid, and syrup is a clear viscous liquid free of sediment. |
| Flavor | Clean sweet taste at approximately 70% the sweetness intensity of sucrose, with no bitterness, metallic note, or cooling effect. |
| Particle Size | Crystalline is 20 to 60 mesh, powder passes 80 mesh with 95% minimum through 100 mesh. Not applicable to syrup |
| Form-Specific Dimensions | Crystalline sits in a 0.25 to 0.85 mm crystal range, powder below 0.18 mm, and syrup is specified by solids and viscosity rather than dimension. |
| Bulk Density | 0.75 to 0.90 g/cm3 for crystalline and 0.55 to 0.70 g/cm3 for powder |
| Viscosity | Syrup at 200 to 400 cP at 25 degrees C and 70 Brix, falling sharply on warming to pumping temperature |
| Solubility | Highly water soluble across all formats, supporting solutions above 65% solids at 20 degrees C without saturation; powder dissolves faster than crystalline at the same temperature, and syrup is fully miscible |
| Water Activity | 0.30 maximum for solid formats; 0.75 to 0.85 for syrup |
| HMF | Not a routine control for crystalline or powder given the low-moisture, low-heat finishing steps. Syrup carries 20 mg/kg maximum as an indicator of thermal history during evaporation and storage |
| Sulfated Ash | 0.10% maximum |
| Heavy Metals | Lead 0.1 mg/kg maximum, arsenic 0.1 mg/kg maximum, cadmium 0.1 mg/kg maximum, mercury 0.05 mg/kg maximum |
| Microbiological and Identity Controls | Total plate count 1,000 cfu/g maximum for solids and 100 cfu/g maximum for syrup, yeast and mold 100 cfu/g maximum, coliforms negative, Salmonella negative in 25 g. Identity is confirmed by HPLC sugar profile rather than a compositional proxy |
| Caloric Value | 0.4 kcal/g as recognized for United States labeling purposes. |
| Packaging | Solid formats in 25 kg multi-wall paper bags with a polyethylene liner, palletized. Syrup in 250 kg to 300 kg drums, 1,250 kg IBC totes, or bulk tanker |
| Shelf Life | 24 months for crystalline and powder, 12 months for syrup, in unopened original packaging |
| Storage | Hold solid formats below 25 degrees C at under 65% relative humidity in sealed packaging. Hold syrup between 20 and 30 degrees C, since sustained cold storage promotes crystallization in the container. |
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Certifications & Compliance
The certifications and records below are available based on format, origin, and lot.
- Kosher and Halal Certification: Available for all three formats from certified production sites.
- Non-GMO Documentation: Available where the supply path uses identity-preserved corn feedstock, which is a sourcing election rather than a standing attribute of the category.
- Gluten-Free Statement: Supported by the corn feedstock and the purification route, which removes protein from the finished material.
- Certificate of Analysis: Issued per lot covering assay, sugar profile, moisture, pH, color, ash, heavy metals, and microbiological results.
- Product Specification Sheet: Defines the agreed limits for the selected format and grade.
- Allergen Statement: Confirms status against the major allergen list and documents facility cross-contact controls.
- Country of Origin Documentation: Issued per shipment, which matters here because the same specification is produced in two regions with different duty treatment.
- Safety Data Sheet: Provided for handling, storage, and transport.
- Food Safety Scheme Certification: BRCGS, FSSC 22000, or an equivalent GFSI scheme at the manufacturing site.
- GRAS and Regulatory Status Records: Documentation supporting United States GRAS status and the Nutrition Facts treatment of allulose. Market clearance outside the United States varies by jurisdiction and needs confirmation per destination before shipment
- Heavy Metals and Contaminant Reports: Issued on request per lot or per campaign.
- Enzyme and Processing Aid Declaration: Identifies the epimerase and isomerase preparations used and confirms they do not carry into the finished material.
Production & Sourcing
D-allulose is manufactured rather than harvested, so origin selection follows plant capability instead of growing conditions. South Korea holds the longest commercial track record and the deepest technical support for the crystalline formats. China supplies the largest installed capacity and the most competitive syrup economics. Source86 qualifies more than one region against the same specification so a buyer can hold continuity if a single plant goes down for maintenance or a trade measure changes landed cost. Feedstock is field corn, which removes seasonality from the finished product even though the underlying starch supply follows the corn crop.
- Feedstock Preparation: Food-grade corn starch is liquefied and saccharified to a high-purity glucose syrup, which sets the impurity baseline for everything downstream.
- Isomerization to Fructose: Immobilized glucose isomerase converts the glucose stream to a fructose-rich syrup, the direct substrate for allulose production.
- Enzymatic Epimerization: D-psicose 3-epimerase converts fructose to allulose at C-3. The reaction reaches equilibrium well short of full conversion, which is why separation rather than reaction yield governs plant output.
- Chromatographic Separation: Simulated moving bed chromatography splits allulose from unconverted fructose and residual glucose. The fructose fraction is recycled to the epimerization step, and the cut point taken here determines whether the stream becomes syrup grade or crystallization feed.
- Purification and Concentration: Ion exchange and activated carbon treatment remove color, ash, and trace organics, then evaporation raises solids under vacuum to limit thermal load on a reducing sugar.
- Format Split: The process divides at this point. Syrup is standardized to target Brix and filled hot. Crystallization feed is seeded and cooled to grow allulose crystals, then centrifuged and dried to produce the coarse crystalline grade.
- Milling and Packing: Crystalline material destined for the powder grade is milled to specification and screened, then all formats are packed under controlled humidity with lot coding that ties back to the separation campaign for traceability.
Applications
- Beverage Manufacturing: Fits carbonated soft drinks, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, flavored waters, and sports drinks, where syrup handles cleanly in existing liquid sugar dosing systems.
- Frozen Desserts and Dairy: Used in ice cream, frozen novelties, yogurt, and cultured dairy programs as the sugar-replacement carrier in reduced sugar lines.
- Bakery and Sweet Goods: Applied in cookies, cakes, muffins, brownies, and sweet fillings, with powder favored for dry mixes and syrup for continuous liquid dosing.
- Confectionery and Chocolate: Suits chocolate, caramels, chews, and gummies, including panned and enrobed formats where the crystalline grade is dosed dry.
- Nutrition Bars and Powdered Nutrition: Used in protein bars, meal replacements, protein powders, and stick packs, where crystalline and powder grades blend into dry systems.
- Tabletop and Sweetener Systems: Serves as the bulk component in retail and foodservice tabletop products and in blended sweetener bases sold on to other manufacturers.
- Sauces, Syrups, and Spreads: Fits pancake syrups, dessert toppings, jams, condiments, and dressings, where the liquid format matches the existing process.
Physical & Functional Characteristics
Supplied as a crystalline solid, a milled solid, or an aqueous solution, all from the same purified stream rather than three separate production routes.
Solid formats are white, and syrup is colorless to pale straw, with darkening in the liquid indicating thermal exposure rather than a grade difference.
Clean and sugar-like with no lingering sweetness, bitterness, or licorice note, and none of the cooling sensation associated with polyols.
Neutral in all formats, which is why it carries into delicate flavor systems without masking work.
Crystalline material is granular and free-flowing, powder is fine and slightly cohesive, and syrup is smooth and pourable at ambient temperature.
Crystalline material is effectively anhydrous at 1% moisture or below, milled powder runs higher at up to 4%, and syrup holds close to 30% water, which is the deciding factor when a formula has no room for added water.
Contributes 0.4 kcal/g and produces a negligible blood glucose and insulin response, since most of what is absorbed is excreted unchanged rather than metabolized.
Vegan, gluten-free, and free of the major allergens, and not a sugar alcohol, so it carries no polyol declaration.
Solid formats pick up atmospheric moisture readily and will cake or harden in an opened or poorly sealed bag, with powder more sensitive than crystalline because of its higher surface area.
Powder generates fines and compresses under pallet load, and syrup can seed crystals against cold drum walls, both of which are storage conditions rather than quality defects.
Holds up through normal pasteurization, baking, and acidified beverage processing, with prolonged high-heat holding the main condition that produces color development in a reducing sugar.
Functionality
- Bulk Sweetener Behavior: Contributes sweetness together with the solids, viscosity, and mouthfeel that a high-intensity sweetener cannot supply, which is what allows near-full sucrose removal rather than partial reduction.
- Sweetness Gap at One-to-One Replacement: Delivers roughly 70% of sucrose intensity by weight, so a straight swap lands short on sweetness and is normally topped up with a small dose of monk fruit or steviol glycosides.
- Accelerated Maillard Browning: Acts as a reducing sugar and browns faster than sucrose at equal weight, which builds crust color quickly and usually requires bake temperature or time to be pulled back to avoid over-coloring.
- Freezing Point Depression: Lowers the freezing point more than sucrose on an equal-weight basis, producing a softer scoop in frozen desserts and calling for a rebalanced solids profile to hold structure.
- Humectancy and Water Activity Control: Binds water strongly, lowering water activity and holding softness in baked goods and bars, while also slowing moisture loss during drying and cooling steps.
- Crystallization Control: Resists graining in high-solids systems and interferes with sucrose crystal growth, which keeps caramels, chews, and fillings smooth but also means allulose alone will not set a crystalline confection.
- Not Fermentable by Yeast: Provides no fermentable carbon in yeast-raised dough, so gas production and proof time depend on a separate sugar source even though sweetness is unaffected.
- Dose Ceiling from Digestive Tolerance: Practical single-serving use levels are held near 0.4 g per kg body weight, since higher loads produce gastrointestinal discomfort in some consumers and this ceiling, not solubility or cost, usually caps the inclusion rate
Benefits for Commercial Manufacturing
- Sugar Reduction Without Reformulating Around a Void: Replacing sucrose with a bulk sweetener keeps the solids and texture the original formula was built on, which shortens development time compared with rebuilding a formula around a high-intensity sweetener and a separate bulking agent.
- Label Position Under Current United States Rules: The Nutrition Facts treatment of allulose is the commercial reason most buyers evaluate it, and it changes the front-of-pack claim available on a finished product rather than only the ingredient statement.
- Format Matched to the Existing Dosing System: Syrup drops into liquid sugar lines, crystalline suits volumetric dry dosing, and powder suits premixes and compressed formats, so plants adopt it without capital changes.
- Multi-Origin Supply for Continuity and Landed Cost: Qualifying the same specification in Korea and China, protects against single-plant downtime and gives room to move volume when duty treatment shifts.
- Documentation Suited to Supplier Approval: Lot-level analysis, GRAS records, and origin documentation support FSVP files and incoming inspection without a separate data request cycle.
- Identity-Preserved Option for Non-GMO Programs: A corn feedstock election rather than a reformulation, which lets a Non-GMO finished product keep the same specification and supplier.
- Single Ingredient Declaration: Declares as allulose alone, with no carrier or anticaking agent to add to a short ingredient statement, and no sugar alcohol to disclose.
- Packaging Sized to the Receiving Point: Lined 25 kg bags protect solids against moisture pickup and size the material for single-charge addition, while drums, totes, and tankers match the throughput of a liquid dosing plant.
