The Need

In the ever-growing global movement for healthy foods, there is an increasing demand for nutritious and wholesome foods. However, these healthier options don’t always appeal to consumers’ taste preferences. Many of these healthier foods, such as whole grains or vegetables, can possess bitter flavors. To make these foods more enjoyable and mask the bitterness, manufacturers frequently resort to excessive amounts of unhealthy additives like fats, sugars, and salts resulting in a trade-off between taste and health.

The Technology

Developed as additives for the food industry, our flavor modulating compounds effectively block or modulate bitter flavors, enabling significant reductions in the need for added sugars and salts. By utilizing these compounds, manufacturers can enhance the flavor of their whole grain products without compromising on nutritional value.

These compounds include both apigenin O-glycosides and C-glycosides, which are carbohydrate-bonded to apigenin, a naturally occurring flavonoid found in plants.

Commercial Applications

The innovative technology has versatile commercial applications in the food industry, including:

• Improving the flavor profile of whole grain products, such as bread, pasta, and breakfast cereals.
• Enhancing the taste of traditional grain-based foods like rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, and millets.
• Creating high-quality, flavorful grain-based snacks and convenience foods for health-conscious consumers.

Benefits/Advantages

Our flavor-modulating technology offers several significant benefits for both producers and consumers:

• Enhanced Consumer Satisfaction: By addressing the negative flavor attributes common to whole grain foods, our technology significantly improves consumer satisfaction and encourages greater consumption of whole grain options.
• Health and Nutritional Benefits: Our technology complements the inherent health benefits of whole grains, providing a winning combination of taste and nutrition that promotes overall well-being.
• Sustainable and Natural Solution: Our compounds are derived from natural sources, offering a sustainable and eco-friendly approach to flavor improvement, aligning with the increasing consumer demand for clean-label and natural ingredients

Patents

• WO2021081429A1