Feel good flavours

As the pressure mounts to provide consumers with healthy, tasty food from 'safe' origins, flavourists are working overtime to come up with the goods, says Rebecca Green.

You would be hard pressed not to have noticed the changing mood when it comes to food in the UK in fact, you would have had to be on another planet not to realise that consumers are becoming more and more health conscious, forced by a deluge of government campaigns to sit up and take stock of what they put into their bodies.

Not surprisingly then, it is not just consumers who are jumping on the five-a-day bandwagon - manufacturers are having to respond accordingly and in the flavour industry fresh, natural flavours are becoming increasingly popular.

According to Jonathan Thomas, principal market analyst at Leatherhead Foods International (LFI), consumers, particularly in the UK, are moving away from synthetic flavours in favour of natural products that are free from colouring and additives.

“This has adversely affected demand within the soft drinks sector, which is a major user of flavour," he says.

Rise of the exotic

However, flavour remains a major driver, says Thomas, with brand extensions based on flavour becoming commonplace (think Coke Lemon). But, he suggests, as consumers focus more on health, the market for fruit juices and drinks is growing, with more exotic fruits such as passion fruit and mango competing with traditional favourites. Consumers’ health concerns have also, says Thomas, given rise to a new breed of juices and drinks based around flavours such as cranberry, blueberry and pomegranate all renowned for their health properties and enjoying ‘super’ status thanks to some high profile celebrity diet endorsements.

New products on the juice market which follow the healthy theme include white cranberry and grape, pineapple and coconut and winter fruits and festive spices smoothies.

“Smoothies are a very strong market at the moment," argues Thomas, “and manufacturers are looking at flavours like winter fruits as a way of increasing consumption at a time of year when consumers might not think to drink them."

In carbonates, new flavours include Mango Tango, Apple Splash Fanta and Raspberry and Cranberry Britvic 55 - all of which are designed to fit with the consumer’s belief that fruit equals healthy.

Health is also a driving factor for flavour in other sectors, such as yoghurts and chilled desserts, says Thomas. “The emphasis of fruit as a healthy ingredient is impacting on flavour development, for instance fruity yoghurt is seen as more healthy," he says.

But as with soft drinks, this is not just confined to traditional flavours such as strawberry. “We are seeing more and more exotic flavours and tropical fruit flavours," says Thomas, “and seasonal ingredients such as summer and winter fruits are starting to make an appearance - all of which is the manufacturers responding to consumer preference."

An example of this is Muller’s new Winter Fruits Mullerice and its Baked Apple and Cinnamon or Rhubard Crumble varieties of Mullerlight.

Lower salt

But of course there is more to making food healthy than just adding fruit flavours; it’s also about lowering the fat content, which can create problems for manufacturers.

Flavour development company Create Flavours knows only too well the pitfalls of lower fat products and is striving to find a solution.

Enhanced flavour of lower fat products

According to md Jonathan Jones, manufacturers are increasingly looking for products to enhance the flavour of lower fat products. In response, the company is continuing to develop flavours that enhance the pleasant taste experience of foods without increasing fat content, enabling sweet and savoury manufacturers to reduce fat without reducing taste.

“It can be done," says Jones, “but there isn’t just one simple solution. We don’t have one fat enhancer, we have different ones for different products, for instance the one we are using for low fat crisps has a high fried flavour, which can be lost in the lower fat product."

Create Flavour’s approach uses knowledge of the interdependency of taste and aroma by selecting and combining key ‘aroma triggers’ that give the impression of high fat in a low fat food and can allow manufacturers to reduce fat by up to 75%. The company is also working on salt replacements and enhancers, but again, believes one simple solution does not exist.

“Finding a true salt replacement is a bit of a holy grail," says Jones. “There will never be a universal salt replacement. We are tailoring the flavours for specific food products and are achieving a 50% salt reduction in foods such as soups, sauces and marinades."

Global flavour manufacturer and marketer Sensient Technologies is also working to meet changing consumer demands and concerns surrounding high salt, fat and sugar intake.

Sensient recognises the challenges facing manufacturers trying to reduce salt in food, namely how to retain a fully palatable and tasty product.

“The problem of reducing salt and sodium levels is one that does not stop at the food manufacturer but cascades to the ingredients used in their design and development," says a spokesman.

To this end, Sensient has developed several products designed to enhance the flavour of a range of foods. Low sodium hydrolysed vegetable proteins (HVPs) are aimed at providing cost effective flavour delivery for the foundation of any savoury formulation. There is also a range of low salt Nova Pura process flavours, which are used to donate specific characters and tonalities for all savoury applications, including boiled and roast chicken, roast beef, bacon, hams, fish, mushrooms and a range of vegetable notes. And for the low salt, free-from and clean label declarations, the company has developed Flavor Mate yeast extracts.

Strong flavours

But health is not the only trend currently driving the flavour market. According to LFI’s Jonathan Thomas, it would seem that consumers are also looking for strong and intense flavours in their food.

Thomas says the growth in ethnic foods is being reflected in sectors such as snacks and ready meals and there is a move towards sour and more intense flavours in the confectionery sector. Indeed, at LFI’s taste spotting and future flavour trends conference in September, a consumer panel confirmed their preference for strong and hot and spicy flavours in snack food as well as light and main meals, the majority enjoying Walkers Sensations crisps because of their “strong aftertaste and authentic flavours"

Dr David Baines of Baines Food Consultancy, adds: “Spicy flavours are really growing in the adult crisp and snack market, which has seen a 10-20% growth from these flavours alone."

The crisp market is also seeing the continued influence of ethnic foods, with many flavours based on Thai, Indian and Chinese cuisine, says Thomas, while Mediterranean flavours are also a growth area, because of their functional health appeal.

And as consumers get more and more adventurous in their tastes, the confectionery market is seeing a move towards more sour flavours and products with a ‘kick’ to them, he adds, with products such as extremely hot lime Chewits making an appearance on shelves.

Premium market

But the British public are not just getting more adventurous, they are also becoming increasingly demanding with more educated palates looking for sophisticated, interesting and authentic flavours.Flavour development must therefore reflect this.

Natural food ingredients producer Chr. Hansen, which recently launched a new range of powdered bouillons, sees the premium market as key in meeting modern day consumer expectations.

“Customers expect the best quality and value in today’s tough and challenging prepared foods market," says Chris Bowen, sales and marketing manager at Chr. Hansen UK, which has developed a range to provide the everyday flexibility and handling of top quality powders combined with the authentic taste profiles of classic French cooking.

The six new bouillons, which range from Rich Mediterranean Vegetable to Creative Classic Chicken and Great Vegetarian Beef Bouillon, are full flavoured and authentic in both taste and appearance, says the company, which is soon to open a creative kitchen in the UK to further its development of new flavours and ingredients.

Back at Create Flavours, the premium market has also been high on the agenda with flavour developers working on the concept of flavour ‘ephemerality’

“In our interactions with foodstuffs there is often a moment in time where our olfactory senses seem to discover that perfect moment," says Jones. “For example, there is that moment when you grill cheese or rub garden mint between your fingers that is there for an instant and then gone forever. We are continuing to develop flavours that enable manufacturers to impart these ephemeral characteristics to their products."

Provenance

Following the recent Para Red and Sudan 1 scares that rocked consumer confidence in the food industry, manufacturers are being forced to answer the ultimate question: ‘Where does my food come from?’

And this traceability is extending into the flavour industry, says Baines. Indeed, flavour houses and manufacturers have already begun to meet these demands with their products, as the Burts Chips and Taste Connection partnership (which produced natural bacon flavour crisps with the name of the pig the bacon came from on the back) demonstrates.

Nick Eskins, director of Taste Connection, authentic taste provider, says: “Provenance is easily achievable for producers of whole and fresh foods, but for the many food manufacturers it is more difficult to achieve and dependent on the use of provenanced ingredients."

Eskins believes the demand for products using provenanced components is growing, particularly for products using floral components, fruits, vegetables and herbs. Meanwhile, Create Flavours is developing a range of flavours that can be traced all the way back to source, including Sicilian lemon and Seville orange flavours, where all the ingredients are derived from the two respective fruits.

Flavour innovation, adds Thomas, is likely to remain a feature of the global food and drinks market, as consumers become ever more health conscious and sophisticated in their tastes. FM