KEY INTERVIEW: Holistic Approach to Technology Brings Results for Givaudan

14 Sep 2015 --- The market for high protein dairy products is growing. But it is not without challenges, so when technicians at leading global flavors supplier Givaudan sat down to tackle the challenges within high protein dairy products, they decided that to fully appreciate the market and its challenges, a holistic approach was necessary. Thomas Ullram, Category Manager Dairy, EAME, spoke to FoodIngredientsFirst about the process and the result.

“The high protein dairy market is awash with opportunities,” he says. “In the Sports market, which is popular with men, there are many products available, while in the indulgence sector, women are seeking more high protein products, usually to satisfy the need for a healthy and filling snack. This leaves many areas open for development.”

“We have also discovered that consumers see yoghurt, unlike many other products, as a snack for many different times of the day. For some it is a morning product, often mixed with other ingredients; it can be a lunchtime dessert, an afternoon snack, and it is also seen as an after-dinner dessert. Many consumers also see high protein yoghurt as a good evening snack as it is both healthy and filling,” says Ullram.

“What our research also found, however, is that there are problems with the taste and mouthfeel of high protein dairy products. They often leave a bitter taste and there are issues with a dry mouth after eating them. In many cases the flavors are questionable and this is because the protein has a water-binding effect and this extracts the flavor over time. 

“This phenomenon presents problems for the food technician. Finding the right balance of flavor that ensures that the product stays appetising on the shelf for a period of time, while not being too strong when first produced, is the challenge. Of course this also has cost implications, which we had to take into account when developing our solutions.”

The research that Givaudan carried out among consumer focus groups in France and the UK highlighted some interesting issues, namely that while consumers generally understand strained yoghurts to be healthy and filling, a clear angle is missing, which provides a great opportunity for food marketers. According to Givaudan, depending on the flavor of the yoghurt, its positioning can be either healthy, filling or indulgent. But first the issues of flavor, taste and sensory properties need to be tackled. 

Consumers told the focus groups that they often found spoonable high protein yoghurts to be sticky, lumpy, too thick and chalky. They also reported a bitter, cheesy or acidic taste, while in terms of flavor, consumers do not want the flavors to be too artificial or sweet. Authentic flavors were very important. Overly perfumed and floral tastes were also undesirable and dairy processors were alerted to the balance of flavors in ‘layered’ products, where the yoghurt layer is topped with a fruit layer. It transpires that these layers are often consumed separately, which means that any masking of taste or flavor in the fruit layer may be lost on the yoghurt layer, which is where it is most required.

In light of these discoveries, Givaudan has developed a suite of masking solutions that combat the consumer feedback, but also tackle the problems that manufacturers face with optimum shelf life. It is the TasteSolutions Masking suite. They use what they call a holistic approach because it covers consumer insights, technical expertise and sensory knowledge to create one suite of solutions, the ABC of high protein dairy.

In this case, the A stands for Authentic, so it gives consumers an authentic flavor that is not too fragrant or artificial. It also ensures a balance of taste with few off-notes or acidity. This is what the B stands for. C is for Consistency and this ensures that the product has the right thickness; it should be smooth, silky and creamy, not too thick and certainly without lumps, both when flavored and when layered with fruit. The TasteSolutions Mouthfeel suite of flavors have been developed with the Consistency in mind.

“We think that this is the first time that a holistic approach has been used to deliver results that get a grip on the issue from all sides,” says Ullram. “There is a lot of research and knowledge behind the concept. The solution addresses what the consumers want and also the problems of the food processors and what they need. We tackled both and to our knowledge no one else has done this.”

Givaudan’s sensory panel that assessed the different elements of taste, flavor and consistency found that all parameters – mouthdrying, chalky, bitter, dairy acidity and astringent – improved with the TasteSolutions products. The most significant improvement was reducing the acidic dairy flavor and the chalky mouthfeel, while the astringency was also noticeably reduced.

The potential for a high protein (>9%) is so huge now that Ullram sees this technology going into mainstream products, particularly expanding the market for dairy drinks and spoonable strained yoghurts. He thinks that the technology could also reasonably be applied in powdered sports formulations, but it would need a bit of work and some validation.

“Overall, for high protein yoghurt, the results show that there is authentic natural profile, shelf-life stability, while masking offnotes, no heavy notes, and improved mouthfeel,” says Ullram. “For dairy drinks, the solutions provide authentic flavors, improved shelf-life stability and improved mouthfeel. This gives manufacturers a whole new scope for developing new products to appeal to a broader audience.”

“There is no off the shelf product. Each project is developed in-house and a specific flavor solution selected based on requirements. The toolbox offers up to 15 different masking or mouthfeel solutions and these can also be combined to create a unique flavor and texture profile.”

“The main message is that each solution can be developed to target specific groups and they can also be modified to the region, where flavor preferences can really differ,” concludes Ullram.

By Kelly Worgan