KEY INTERVIEW: Mane Looks to Capture the True Emotion of Flavor

19 Dec 2014 --- Leading flavor and fragrance supplier Mane employs 4,000 people in 32 countries and reported sales of €723 million in 2013. Still a family owned company, headquartered in France, Mane has 25 manufacturing sites and 42 R&D Centers in place around the world and is now looking to expand its reach in Asia.

“We have completed the second phase of our expansion plans in China, by tripling the size of both our R&D and production premises in Baoshan, and are looking to acquire land in an industrial zone to plan our next investment program,” Jean M. Mane President and CEO of Mane told FoodIngredientsFirst.

A major project is now nearing completion in Indonesia. “In early 2015, we will open a brand new R&D Center, with increased space dedicated to creation and application laboratories, consumer research and consumer insight, coupled with the largest liquid flavor and fragrance compounding plant within the Group Mane,” he explains.

In Thailand, the industrial site in Ladkrabang has seen a second enlargement, while the company is also actively pursuing a survey of industrial zones in India. “Here we are seeking to further expand our activities through joint ventures, and integration and traceability of our supplies of spice extracts and essential oils and derivatives,” he adds.

Mane’s Flavor division provides cutting-edge solutions to a wide spectrum of taste challenges: from creating unique organoleptic experiences to enhancing taste perceptions or covering off-tastes. Jean Mane explained that the company is focusing innovation efforts on three research platforms:
• PURE CAPTURE: Natural solutions to address the economical, regulatory and sensorial challenges of natural flavors.
• SENSE CAPTURE: Flavors for taste sensations providing solutions to the sensory challenges generated by complex solutions engineered by the food and drink industry. Three research programs have been developed: Mask (bitterness, acidity, after-taste, actives, off-notes, stevia), Boost (sweetness, creaminess, umami, saltiness) and Feel (cool using the Physcool proprietary molecule, warm, mouth-watering).
• N-CAPTURE: Mane offers one of the widest portfolios of encapsulation technologies solutions for controlled or sequential release of flavors, together with stability, performance and cost in use benefits for all types of food manufacturing processes.

The CEO notes that the consumer trends of health and wellness, multi-sensorial experience, naturalness and authenticity are all impacting the flavor industry too. Mane closely monitors these trends around the world through a network of over 40 marketers.

“For instance, we’ve observed recently in Europe an increased interest in an extraordinary citrus, well established in Asia, the combava, also known as Kaffir lime. This extremely fragrant little citrus, reminiscent of lemongrass and lime, blends wonderfully in culinary applications, sweet goods and beverages,” he says.

“In parallel, consumers are expecting novelty in taste. A new growing flavor dimension is ‘trigeminal.’ We have all heard about cooling effect. New sensations such as tingling, warming or rounding effects combined with single or complex flavor notes are more and more appreciated by consumers,” the CEO adds.

But “natural” and “clean label” as marketing terms are being addressed by regulators in order to stop consumer deception and this may well impact the flavor industry too. “A ‘clean vision’ of our food, based on ‘non-declarable’ ingredients would be very misleading,” says Jean Mane.

“In this context, except for flavorings where everything is fully defined in the new EU regulation, any broad natural concept results from the consumer’s search for simpler and easier to understand food labeling. Unless this approach is properly explained to consumers, there is a high risk of misunderstanding, which could put the flavor industry in a difficult position,” he adds.

Jean Mane notes that in the near future, emerging application areas for flavors in consumer goods will be driven by emotions. “Flavors are the main initiator of emotions through smell and through taste. These emotions have a greater impact before and after tasting of food,” he explains. “The main challenge, which also represents the biggest opportunity for flavor houses, will be to understand and to be able to stimulate positive memory in consumers and drive the dynamic of preference, choice and repeat purchase,” he adds.

Innovation in these emerging areas will help drive the creation of winning future food & beverage product concepts.

By Robin Wyers