A New Sugar Alternative? How Engineered Bacteria Could Make Tagatose Affordable and Scalable

A New Sugar Alternative? How Engineered Bacteria Could Make Tagatose Affordable and Scalable

For more than 100 years, scientists and food companies have chased the same goal: a sugar alternative that tastes like the real thing without the metabolic downsides. From saccharin in the late 19th century to modern plant-based sweeteners such as stevia and monk fruit, each breakthrough has come with trade-offs—aftertastes, cooking limitations, or consumer skepticism. Now, researchers at Tufts University are proposing a very different solution.…