Givaudan Introduces New Technology to Make Processed Food Taste Fresher

With the consumer market rapidly heading towards natural and fresh tasting foods, companies are constantly being challenged to produce food products that incorporate that freshness along with the convenience of ready made meals. International flavor and fragrance manufacturer Givaudan has released a new line of flavor enhancers that claim to make processed and ready-made meals taste as if they were freshly made.

The Swiss manufacturer announced its new FreezeFrame line on Wednesday. The flavor line highlights seven top notes that help to bring out the fresh taste of food: lime, lemon, asparagus, lettuce, basil, coriander/cilantro and parsley.

Fabio Campanile, Global Head of Science & Technology, Flavour Division at Givaudan explains, “This innovative approach was developed following our last Chef’s Council event in New York, where together with some of the world’s leading chefs we explored what constitutes a freshly prepared eating experience.

“This enabled us to ‘de-code’ what the perception of freshness means, and translates the taste of freshly prepared food into flavor solutions for convenience foods.”

Givaudan’s innovative flavor enhancers claim to “lift” the profile of a meal with a hint of freshness. Just as many freshly prepared meals incorporate fresh herbs as flavor enhancers or garnish, FreezeFrame is designed to add that hint of fresh taste and smell to a processed meal.

The manufacturing process had proved to be a challenge for the company because the freshness of a ready-meal usually degrades in time through evaporation, oxidation or enzymatic degradation.

“We have overcome these issues by using our FreezeFrame technology,” said Campanile. “This technique prevents the evaporation, oxidation or enzymatic degradation of key freshness molecules to give us a more accurate analysis and capture the unique top notes.”

“Our freshness solutions will help customers enhance the eating experience of their products by adding a fresh element to the flavor.”

According to Campanile, Givaudan conducted a research study with over 800 consumers and concluded from their findings that freshness is a strong driver for consumer preference. Consumers are also more likely to read labels and ingredients when shopping, causing companies to replace artificial favors and ingredients with natural ones.

TGivaudan is already in its second phase of developing flavor solutions. The next FreezeFrame flavors are comprised of cucumber, ginger, lemongrass and Thai basil.