Emerging Food Technology

Altering Taste Perception

Altering Taste Perception

It’s commonly understood that humans perceive five basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. However, sensory scientists now believe there are many more fundamental tastes in the perception of food. Additionally, taste perception is far more complex in other...

Taste Improvement: New Sweet Taste Modulator

Taste Improvement: New Sweet Taste Modulator

NO NON-CALORIC SUGAR SUBSTITUTE tastes exactly like sucrose. “Research into improving taste of sugar substitutes in beverages involves 10 metrics,” explained Grant DuBois, Consultant, Sweetness Technologies, LLC. DuBois imparted this information in his presentation...

Genetics, Sweet Preference, Short Sleep &  Food Choice

Genetics, Sweet Preference, Short Sleep & Food Choice

ROBIN TUCKER, PH.D., Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, provided an update on the science related to two under-studied contributors to food choice—genetics (sweet-liking phenotype) and sleep—in a video on "Genetics, Sweet...

Culinary Sweetener Strategies

Culinary Sweetener Strategies

THERE ARE SO MANY WAYS chefs use sweeteners, but how do we perceive sweetness? Sweetness is one of the main taste components of flavor, balancing out with salty, sour, bitter and umami. Understanding sweetness perception is especially important to building balanced...

Sweetener Tastes Improvements

Sweetener Tastes Improvements

Based on the physiological mechanisms of taste perception, a recent patent application describes a clean-label formulation technology that dramatically improves the tastes of sweeteners, non-caloric and caloric alike. -Grant E. DuBois, Ph.D., Consultant, Sweetness...

Fruit Juice Sugar Reduction

Fruit Juice Sugar Reduction

Israeli-based startup Better Juice recently announced that it was teaming up with Brazilian Juice producer Citrosuco SA to establish a pilot plant that will ultimately lead to the production of reduced sugar orange juice. Better Juice Ltd. has developed innovative new...

Emerging Research in Aromas & Sweetness Enhancement

Emerging Research in Aromas & Sweetness Enhancement

August 24, 2017 - The presentation by Thomas Colquhoun, Ph.D., Plant Biologist at the University of Florida (Gainesville), built further on the concept of multi-modal sweetness perceptions developed by previous speakers. The focus was on the potential role of...

Make Products Sweeter with Sight, Smell, Sound & Touch

Make Products Sweeter with Sight, Smell, Sound & Touch

August 1, 2017 - “How do you make food and beverages sweet without using sugar?” asked Alex Woo, Ph.D., CEO and Founder of W2O Food Innovation. Answering his own question, he continued, “You can do this by combining a basic understanding of neuroscience and ingredient...

No Calorie Makes No Sense

No Calorie Makes No Sense

The science behind taste perception has advanced greatly in recent years. This has resulted in new opportunities from ingredient technologies and product formulation approaches to a better understanding of consumer preferences. With a goal of empowering the...

Challenges of Labeling “Added Sugar”

Challenges of Labeling “Added Sugar”

June 6, 2017 - Dietary sugar reduction is a global health objective, as per the United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO). Thus, the compliance challenges posed by the U.S. Food & Drug Agency’s (FDA) recently published requirement to include “added sugar” as...