We gain an understanding of the world around us through our senses. The sensory effect of consumption of any food or beverage is a combination of the experiences of the five senses: sight, smell, sound, touch and taste. This implies that there needs to be a perfect synergy between what consumers taste and smell and what they see, touch and hear. The sight (colour and appearance) of fresh fruits and vegetables gives consumers an idea of what they can expect in terms of the fragrance (freshness or fruitiness), sound (snap or bite) touch (texture, firmness or softness) and taste (flavour). Each product is thus associated with one or more specific sensory attributes. If these sensory characteristics are leveraged during product designing, the product appeal will be greater, leading to stronger bonding between the brand and the consumer. Thus, developing new food products requires a perfect understanding of the consumer’s needs and his rapidly changing perceptions.

Consumers want more
Today, consumers experience a sensory assault throughout the day with the increased intensity and diversity of flavours and fragrances used in a wide spectrum of product categories that include food and beverages, oral and personal care and household products.

Increased global exposure, education, disposable incomes and health awareness have given rise to changing lifestyles and aspirations. These factors have led to more specialised consumer demands when it comes to food. Consumers are looking for functional foods with health and nutritional benefits, convenience foods or foods with minimal additives that can help prevent lifestyle-related illnesses. Foods of the future comprise foods that are low on fat, sugar and salt but high on health benefits.

With advances in processing technology and a better understanding of the functional food ingredients, the food processing industry is working very closely with ingredient manufacturers and flavour creators to merge the various technologies to bring out unique and acceptable products. The offering has to be healthy with the appropriate taste and texture.

Challenges in flavour design
In foods and beverages, the acceptance or rejection of any product depends primarily on its flavour. As a result, from the start of product development activities in coordination with the marketing team, considerable emphasis is laid on producing the right flavour. Product developers have to understand the possible mental perception and expectations of the user as well as the likely association of the flavour (for example, fruits) with the characteristics or qualities that the manufacturer wants the product to evoke (for example, health). Changing flavour trends over the past few years have indicated that consumers prefer flavours with a twist (for example, cranberry with apple) and not simple, single flavours.

Flavour designing or creation is a huge challenge not only because each product has different ingredients and manufacturing processes but also because each product is consumed in various forms at varying times and temperatures. Thus, a vanilla flavour designed for a frozen product like ice-cream will be very different from one designed for biscuits, which have to be baked at high temperatures. On consumption, flavour release in an ice cream occurs at very low temperatures, while flavour release in biscuits takes place at room temperature.

Beverages
The beverage sector is the fastest-growing segment in the food industry with existing products being re-launched with new flavours even as entirely new products are making an appearance on shelves. Fruit drinks with higher fruit contents and fruit juice blends (paired products) require innovative technologies to ensure stability and nonseparation of the pulp or fruit pieces. Newer novel drinks involve paired flavours such as strawberry with litchi or guava with kiwi or pomegranate in varying proportions to obtain an acceptable flavour profile. In such combinations, the flavour has to be redefined to match the top note (fragrance perceived immediately on consumption) with the taste. Manufacturers must also look into balancing the acidulants and sweetness in the product. Vitamin-fortified fruit beverages with berry or citrus combinations need to mask the off-notes of the added vitamins through the appropriate flavour-ingredient combination. Recently, functional beverages, energy drinks and sports drinks containing added ingredients are also being marketed in a variety of palatable flavours.



A growing interest in ‘organic’ and ‘natural’ products for their perceived health benefits has given rise to everyday beverages like green and black tea being produced with natural flavours like mint, honey, ginger, etc. Teas with herbal, fruity or flowery infusions such as tulsi, ginger, ashwagandha, brahmi, orange peel, lemon peel, rose and chamomile are all the rage. Similarly, new varieties of coffee are making an entry, with flavours like cinnamon, caramel, cocoa and mint. Some man facturers are even experimenting with fruit flavours. The possibilities seem endless; novel flavours tempt consumers to experiment each time they go shopping for the traditional tea, coffee or juices. However, the novelty soon wears off, and manufacturers are constantly compelled to come up with newer innovations and combinations to attract consumers.

In the past, flavouring ingredients were mainly used in alcoholic beverages as correctors or modifiers to mask imperfections in the ageing or blending of alcohols from various sources. Today, apart from a process aid, flavours also play a very significant role in providing variety and freshness to alcoholic drinks and their extensions into cocktails and ready-to-drink products. Recent trends show a spurt in the growth of white drinks like gin and white rum, with vodka being the dominant spirit consumed. Flavoured vodka is not really new, but today there is a staggering variety of flavours available. Fusion flavours like pomegranate-blueberry, cranberry-cherry, pineapple-litchi, apple-caramel and combinations of blackcurrant and blueberry juice are gaining popularity. In gins, too, there is an interesting variety of fruit blends available.

Ready-to-drink cocktail mixes in fruit or herbal combinations are available in convenient unit sizes, and are promoted as ‘drinks on the go’. Wine coolers (mildly carbonated wine, with fruit juices and flavours) and malt coolers are also becoming popular in certain segments. With regard to drinks like whisky, rum and brandy, the trend is towards cocktail mixes with flavours like cola. Some manufacturers are experimenting with fruit blends for brandy and light chocolate blends for whisky.

The next beverage revolution in India can be expected in the flavoured waters category, with traditional fruit flavours ruling and the introduction of juices like blueberry, cranberry and pomegranate gaining favour because of their high nutrient and antioxidant content with positive health benefits.

Savoury snacks
The savoury segment is another segment in which there has been a burst of new products with unusual flavours, textures and shapes. Snack makers are using more traditional, complex and exotic flavourings to differentiate their products. The focus now is on ‘better-for-you’ options, and there has been a distinct shift from fried snacks to snacks with no trans fats, to baked products which are low on salt. Traditional flavours from Indian cuisine are finding their way into snacks, and this is apparent from the rise in authentic Indian flavours like tandoori, mint chutney, pickles and masala.

The world market too is opening up to exotic or ‘ethnic’ flavours such as Thai sweet chilly, sun-dried tomato with basil, spicy Szechwan as well as delicious smoked and barbeque flavours. Every country has its own unique snacking habits, and novel Indian flavours for the various snacks could be used as a platform to enter other global markets. The samosa, a common Indian snack, could become an interesting flavour for chips or an extruded snack in another country. Other snacks such as nuts are now coated or roasted and have flavours like masala, smoke, honey, etc. There are no limits to the number of concepts that food manufacturers can twist to design newer flavours by extending ethnic and everyday favourites to the snack food market.



Bakery
The bakery sector is also witnessing a host of innovative new products, primarily catering to the health platform. Thus, we have biscuits that are high on fibre, use whole-grain or multi-grain combinations, are low-fat and use less sugar and salt. Baked foods fortified with vitamins, minerals and proteins are making an appearance in the high-value market segments. Such products are promoted as having certain distinct health advantages. Oats rich in fibre promote good digestion and help reduce cholesterol, flax seeds provide fibre and omega-3 fatty acids, while soya products are said to help diabetic patients. These products require flavours that can mask the off-taste of the additional ingredients, while at the same time relating the product to a known category (biscuits or breads). This is necessary as consumers have specific perceptions and expectations of the generic base product. The flavours seen in the baked foods category are still predominantly the traditional chocolate, vanilla, nut, cinnamon, rose, coffee, raisins, fruit and cream.

Ice creams and desserts
New developments in ice cream and desserts include low-fat and low-sugar ice creams, as products offering real or imagined health benefits fly off the shelves. These require new ingredients and flavours to improve acceptability and mouthfeel by imparting fatty notes and sweetness-enhancing flavours to make up for the excluded fats and sugar. The introduction of probiotics and other healthy ingredients have also posed numerous challenges to flavourists while designing appropriate flavours. In the ice cream and dessert category, we are now seeing a convergence of some confectionery concepts, especially with regard to modifications in texture. These products now include pieces of chocolate, caramel, toffee and chews. The innovations in this category include blends of traditional ice-cream flavours like vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and butterscotch, paired with new non-traditional flavours such as coconut, lime and spices. Another twist is the introduction of unusual flavours such as tea, cinnamon, pepper, rum and resin, and more recently, chilly.

Confectionery
In the confectionery segment, a host of light or aerated products are in the market. Flavour designing in this segment needs to account for flavour delivery on consumption with entirely different texture and bite characteristics. More delicate and subtle flavours work well here. Generally, traditional flavours are still the most popular: citrus and fruity flavours with combinations like lemon and mint, cranberry, pomegranate and green tea. The association of flavours with health-imparting fruit extracts is the current trend. Development is also rapidly taking place in the area of cocoa-based products and chocolates as cocoa’s healthful properties are gaining recognition. Flavour designing for chocolate is generally limited to the range of vanilla, nutty, butter, coffee and combinations of these with some fruit flavours such as orange and strawberry.

Every day, new foods and beverages are being introduced in the market, each trying to play on the emotional and physical needs of the customer be it health, convenience, lifestyle or flavour. Flavouring is as much a mark of quality as it is an art with fun and fresh new flavours constantly emerging in order to keep pace with today’s capricious consumer. The challenge in the flavour design field is clearly anticipating future trends and creating products that influence the consumer emotionally on a broader wellness and sensory platform. Anticipating future trends or shifts and designing innovative flavour systems ahead of the curve is the biggest challenge for the flavour industry.

The author is the CEO, Keva Flavours Pvt Ltd, Mumbai. He can be contacted at dilipbedekar@shkelkar.com or dilipbedekar@rediffmail.com.