Symrise reveals multiple facets of science-powered flavour creation

Describes the science and human expertise behind the creation of new flavours

An essay focusing on the Symrise Research & Technology (R&T) department in the Taste, Nutrition & Health segment fosters greater internal and external understanding by explaining the fascinating blend of scientific, technological and human factors that power flavour creation.

To shed light on the secrets behind the creation of taste solutions, Germany-based Symrise has conducted interviews with members of its R&T department. It has summarized its findings in an essay to share with its customers.

The essay explains what defines a ‘flavour creation’. It takes a combination of research and technology, as well as raw materials with natural authenticity as an essential factor. This supports today’s consumers wish to know what their food and beverages contain, where they come from and how manufacturers produce them.

Key technologies, such as LC-Taste^® (liquid chromatography – taste) and GC-O (gas chromatography – olfactometry) combine chemical separation methods with sensory analysis, while trained experts identify, which ingredients impart the different tastes and smells. Symrise uses Artificial Intelligence to assist flavour creators, with proprietary digital tools like predictive modeling. They help screening the existing Symrise portfolio and find suitable ingredients that the experts can use to create a flavour.

‘Real life’ behaviour also forms an important part in the performance of a flavour. Factors such as saliva and mouth temperature can substantially affect taste. For this reason, R&T uses close-to-nature technologies such as an artificial mouth model to gain important information about how a flavour behaves.