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By Thom King, CFS, Founder, Chairman, Chief Innovation Officer Icon Foods

A Practical Guide to PPM, Sweet Protein Modulation, and Formulation Success

Food formulators are funny creatures. We’ll spend weeks debating whether a flavor should be used at 0.08% or 0.10%, but then somebody introduces a sweet protein at 25 parts per million and half the room suddenly reaches for a calculator. The truth is that thaumatin lives in a world most ingredients never visit. While sugars, fibers, and polyols are measured in percentages, thaumatin often works its magic in mere parts per million. Tiny numbers. Massive impact.

That’s exactly why understanding PPM is essential if you’re going to unlock the full potential of the Thaumatiq™ family of sweet protein systems.

First Things First: What is PPM?

PPM stands for Parts Per Million. Think of it as the ingredient equivalent of baseball batting averages. A batting average of .300 looks tiny until you realize it makes you an All-Star. Thaumatin works much the same way. Small numbers matter. In formulation terms:

• 1 PPM = 1 mg per kg
• 10 PPM = 10 mg per kg
• 100 PPM = 100 mg per kg
• 1,000 PPM = 0.10%

For most beverages: 1 PPM ≈ 1 mg/L That means a 250-ppm addition is simply: 250 mg per liter or 0.025% Not much on paper. Potentially game-changing in the glass.

Why Formulators Love Thaumatin

Thaumatin is not just a sweetener. It’s a sweetness optimizer. A flavor amplifier. A bitterness suppressor. A temporal modifier. A lot of ingredient technologies promise to do all those things. Thaumatin actually does.

Because thaumatin interacts with the T1R2/T1R3 sweet taste receptor differently than traditional caloric sweeteners, formulators frequently observe:

• Enhanced sweetness perception
• Reduced bitterness
• Improved flavor release
• Greater sweetness persistence
• Improved overall flavor balance
• Lower high-intensity sweetener usage requirements

In other words, instead of forcing more sweetness into a formulation, thaumatin often allows the sweetness already present to perform better. That’s a very different game.

Meet the Thaumatiq™ Family

Every formulation challenge is different. That’s why Icon Foods developed multiple Thaumatiq™ systems optimized for specific formulation objectives.

Thaumatiq™ T10 (thaumatin from katemfe fruit and cassava fiber)

The workhorse. Designed for broad food and beverage applications where sweetness enhancement, bitterness reduction, and flavor optimization are required. Best Applications:

• Carbonated beverages
• Energy drinks
• Functional beverages
• RTD teas
• Protein heavy beverages
• Dairy systems

Thaumatiq™ V10  (thaumatin from katemfe fruit, cassava fiber, mogroside V)

Built specifically with beverage systems in mind. Fast dispersion. Clean sweetness enhancement. Excellent flavor lift. Best Applications:

• Clear beverages
• Enhanced waters
• Sports nutrition
• RTD cocktails
• Sparkling beverages

Thaumatiq™ R10 (thaumatin from katemfe fruit, cassava fiber, RebM)

When sweetness persistence matters. R10 excels in systems where sweetness duration and temporal profile optimization become critical. Best Applications:

• Reduced-sugar beverages
• Functional drinks
• Confectionery
• Gummies
• Chews

As illustrated in the graph below, all three Thaumatiq™ systems exhibit a significantly slower sweetness onset than sucrose. Rather than delivering an immediate sweetness impact, thaumatin gradually builds on the palate, reaching peak sweetness later and sustaining that perception for a much longer period of time.

Thaumatiq™ LX (thaumatin from katemfe fruit, organic coconut vegetable glycerin)

The heavy hitter. Highly concentrated. Maximum formulation efficiency. Lower usage rates. Best Applications:

• High-performance beverage systems
• Cost-sensitive formulations
• Advanced sweetener systems

Converting PPM to Percentage

This is where many formulators overcomplicate things.Don’t.Use this simple rule: Percentage = PPM ÷ 10,000. Examples:

If you’re working in percentages and want PPM: PPM = Percentage × 10,000 Simple. No spreadsheets required.

Recommended Beverage Usage Levels

Think of these as starting points, not finish lines. Bench work still wins championships.

Bench-Top Formulation Guide

One Liter Beverage

100 kg Beverage Batch

Suggested Formulation Strategy

Whenever I’m evaluating a new sweetener system, I rarely run a single sample. I run three. The Sweet Spot Triangle:

• Low Dose
• Mid Dose
• High Dose

For most beverages:

• 150 ppm
• 250 ppm
• 500 ppm

Those three samples almost always tell me where the product wants to live. The formulation starts talking back. And that’s when the fun begins.

The future of sugar reduction isn’t going to come from a single ingredient. It’s going to come from intelligent ingredient systems. Thaumatin is one of the most powerful tools available because it doesn’t simply add sweetness. It changes how sweetness is perceived. That distinction matters.

As consumer expectations continue climbing while sugar targets continue falling, formulators need ingredients that do more than one job. Thaumatiq™ helps sweetness work harder. It helps flavors shine brighter. It helps reduced-sugar products taste less like reduced-sugar products.

And perhaps most importantly, it allows formulators to achieve more with remarkably little ingredient addition. Sometimes the smallest players on the field end up changing the entire game. Thaumatin is one of those players.

At Icon Foods, we don’t just sell ingredients. We formulate with them every day.

Our team works alongside food scientists, beverage developers, and R&D teams to solve real-world formulation challenges involving sugar reduction, sweetness optimization, flavor enhancement, fiber fortification, and clean-label innovation.

Whether you’re developing a better-for-you soda, protein shake, gummy, hard candy, dairy product, or next-generation functional beverage, we’re here to help you move faster, formulate smarter, and create products consumers actually want to buy again.