INGREDIENTS & ADDITIVES
ASIA PACIFIC FOOD INDUSTRY JUNE 2010
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a somewhat green and lingering liquorice aftertaste. A natural stevia masking flavour can bring the sweetness forward and cover the unpleasant aftertaste. • Masking Bitterness Customised masking flavours can cover the bitterness and dryness of protein concentrates in beverages or nutritional bars. One masking flavour can cover the bitterness of caffeine in an energy beverage, but a different one will have to be used for a chewing gum that contains caffeine. Herbal supplements can be astringent and bitter, and masking flavours can cover these defects. As a response to the obesity epidemic, food companies are developing products that contain high amounts of soy or whey protein to improve satiety. Sometimes, they also add supplements such as Chromium Picolinate to prevent hunger. Green tea ECGC’s have been shown to increase metabolism and help with weight loss. These new weight loss products need modification for better consumer acceptance. The astringency and bitter aftertaste of soy protein can be improved by the use of natural soy masking flavours. Highly acidic whey protein beverages can be improved by natural acid masking flavours used at 0.3 percent. Green tea beverages are very astringent and can be improved with the addition of astringency masking flavours. Consumers are becoming more interested in exercise and nutrition as a means to better health. They are interested in food that is going to help them
achieve their fitness goals. Pre and post exercise products, hydration beverages with high electrolytes and vitamin fortified products are just a few that are targeted to these consumers. Salt masking flavours used at 0.1 to 0.2 percent can improve the taste of hydration beverages.
Flavour Enhancers Flavour enhancers are another type of flavour modifiers that benefit manufacturers of healthy food and beverages. Lower calorie, reduced sugar food and beverages can be improved by the use of sweetness enhancers. Very acceptable chocolate milk with 40 percent sugar reduction can be made with the addition of 0.3 percent natural sweetness enhancer flavour. Hypertension has been linked to salt consumption and world health organisations are urging food companies to lower salt in their products. Potassium
Chloride and Potassium Lactate are often used as substitutes, but they have a metallic aftertaste and are not salty enough. Potassium masking flavours and salt enhancers can help food manufacturers improve the taste of low salt food; they cover the metallic taste of salt substitutes and enhance saltiness. They work in soups, nutritional bars and dusted on snacks. Fat replacer flavours are available to help food scientists develop fat free, or lower fat and lower cholesterol foods. They can mimic the taste of butter or animal fat. Towards Better Taste In order to obtain the best finished food and beverage, manufacturers should work with a flavour manufacturer with advanced expertise and technology in masking flavours. It is important to supply the food product with its unique defect and p ro c e s s i n g c o n d i t i o n s to the flavour chemist in order to obtain the best masking flavour or enhancer, and most acceptable finished product. O rc h e s t r a t i n g g re a t taste requires that we mask and modify unfamiliar or disjointed taste and smell. The key to flavour modification is to keep all things in harmony and keep any one flavour note from standing out. Due to the complexity of taste, developers will likely need several tools to accomplish this. Good tools to start with are flavour modifiers such as masking flavours and flavour enhancers. For more information, ENTER No: 0440