IFF Launches Authentic Natural Chicken Flavours

IFF's work has resulted in the launch of a toolkit of White Meat Boiled, Dark Meat Boiled, Fatty/Skin, Roast and Grilled Chicken flavours, which can be combined and adjusted to meet particular application needs.

23/09/08 Consumer research into the needs and habits on various markets, coupled with gold standard flavour development have been instrumental in International Flavour and Fragrances’ (IFF) creation of a new range of chicken flavours. The flavour house has introduced a range of five basic chicken flavours at the Hilversum Creative Center in The Netherlands under the guidance of Master Chef Florian Webhofer (pictured). Their line was presented there today. IFF's work consists of a toolkit of White Meat Boiled, Dark Meat Boiled, Fatty/Skin, Roast and Grilled Chicken flavours, which can be combined and adjusted to meet particular application needs.

IFF, which is the second largest flavour company in the world (net sales $2.3 billion in 2007), invests around 8.5% of its sales into R&D, with savoury given plenty of attention. Within savoury, 70% of IFF’s business comes from natural flavours and Head of Global Savory Category Management, Jos Muilwijk believes that the natural image of savoury food needs to be restored within the consumer mindset. “The challenge for many savoury food products is that they are perceived as processed food. They are convenient, but as a result they have become removed from the hand-made quality from which they originate. Convenience foods save time, but with that comes the image of a loss of quality and they are not regarded as natural”, Muilwijk said. He also noted that in the case of meat flavoured products, the flavour is typically far removed from its original reference point. “Taste disturbing” ingredients such as salt, taste enhancers and spices are also taking the flavour away from its food of origin.

Teresa Nava, Senior Researcher Sensory & Consumer Insight Flavours Europe spoke of the consumer research conducted into how chicken bouillon cubes and dehydrated soups are used on different markets. Research in Russia, Spain, Germany and France looked at the habits of consumers in 15 homes in each country, by conducting in-home visits and focus groups, based around how the prepared products were being used by consumers and how much this differed. In Russia, for example, a very traditional chicken soup was created, in Spain one family made a lentil stew. Meanwhile in France one home opted for a pasta, while in Germany a noodle soup with ‘fried batter pearls’ was created. A flavour analysis of the products concluded that different brands have different flavour profiles for chicken and the same brands have different flavour profiles per country. Most significantly however, “not all chicken flavoured products taste like chicken”, which clearly indicates a market potential for ingredients that can go closer to the gold standard.

Chef Florian Webhofer’s flavour team looked to replicate the gold standard of different pieces of chicken, with this range of natural flavours. "We brought in a selection of the world's finest chickens, raised on different diets and in a variety of habitats, and cooked them open pan, slow cook, high pressure pan and more – using nothing but a pinch of salt as seasoning – and found the best target flavor profiles to guide the creative team in the design of this new range", Webhofer said.

Muilwijk pointed out that chicken was on the rise as a meat, while other meats such as pork and beef have seen a decline, due to rising prices and their less healthy image. As more chicken is consumed as a meat, the flavour will also become more prominent in other areas such as snacks. Muilwijk said that there was no compensation from eating less actual pork and beef to eating more pork and beef flavoured products. “We believe that consumers follow what they eat when it comes to the flavours of ready-made products”, he said. Using flavour as a partial substitute for actual meat is also a significant issue behind these sorts of launches, as the price of raw materials continues to rise and the option of partially replacing some of the chicken content with a natural flavour in a bouillon or dehydrated soup is taken.

IFF’s CulinEssence programme is promoted as a creative combination of cutting-egde flavour technology and global culinary arts that delivers authentic global culinary taste for customers’ food products. The programme works in concert with flavour creation and flavour technology. Webhofer, who leads the Culinessence team has worked for some of the most famous restaurants in Italy, Switzerland, Germany and The Netherlands. In his work for IFF, he continues to take sabbaticals with many of the world’s finest and most innovative chefs, such as Ferran Adria and Heston Blumenthal.

IFF is currently engaged in a number of new projects similar to the chicken flavour line, but exact details of future directions that CulinEssence and other savoury projects are taking is being kept under wraps. Expect other areas outside of chicken to follow very soon however. A programme dealing with African flavours in the run-up to the 2010 soccer World Cup is certainly set to follow.

by Robin Wyers