Extra-sensory deception by US biotech company
The first products containing ingredients that can fool taste buds into thinking people are eating salty, sweet and rich foods should start hitting supermarket shelves later this year.
California-based biotechnology firm Senomyx, which was set up in 1999 by Charles Zuker and a clutch of scientists, has struck deals with Nestlé, Kraft, Campbell Soup and Coca-Cola to develop new flavour compounds to replace sugar, sweeteners, salt and monosodium glutamate (MSG). It said that one firm should launch its first products within months.
Building on work by scientists who have cloned human taste receptors for umami, sweet and bitter tastes, Senomyx uses biological screening to evaluate millions of molecules to identify which substances bind to specific taste receptors. A substance that binds and activates sweet taste receptors, for example, will send a signal to the brain that the person is eating a sweet food, whether it is or not. While salt and sugar are still in development, new flavours replicating the taste of MSG and additives will hit the market by the end of 2006, said Senomyx.
"Senomyx has developed four savoury flavour ingredients whose primary applications are to reduce or eliminate MSG and other additives, such as IMP [inosinic acid], and to enhance the savoury taste of foods," it said.
"One of our collaborators is continuing preparations for commercialisation of products that contain one or more of these ingredients in late 2006."
- The University of Nottingham's flavour research group is working with a leading food manufacturer on how acidity affects taste.
"We're looking at a commercial product and trying to work out key quality control points," says head of the group professor Andy Taylor.
