Givaudan reappraises umami to create new tastes

Givaudan is conducting new scientific and culinary research into umami through its TasteSolutions program.

It has developed an extensive palette of natural taste ingredients which focus on umami, enabling flavorists to create flavors that provide a new level of taste and authenticity in foods without having to rely on the addition of declarable taste enhancers.

The move to label declarations that consumers can readily recognize and understand is a trend which continues to grow in importance linked to health and wellness concerns.

This translates into requests from food manufacturers who wish to reduce the number of ingredients on the label declaration to the minimum and find natural alternatives to artificial or chemical-sounding ingredient names.

At the heart of this 'clean label' movement is the desire to remove taste enhancers such as MSG (monosodium glutamate).

MSG is widely used in savory and snack foods to provide an umami sensation which enhances the overall flavor intensity.

Umami is a Japanese term that directly translates into 'delicious taste' and provides the body, mouth feel and succulence to foods which consumers find highly desirable.