Solae, Senomyx Making Progress on Improving Taste of Soy Protein

The collaboration aims to develop new bitter blockers that better modulate and control bitterness in certain soy-based products. These innovations could improve the nutritional value of foods.

15/09/08 Solae, the leading supplier of soy protein for food products, and Senomyx, Inc., a leading company focused on using proprietary technologies to discover and develop novel flavor ingredients for the food, beverage and ingredient supply industries, have reported reaching critical milestones in their collaboration to improve the taste of soy protein.

"We are excited about the progress we have made and look forward to the end results and how we can help our customers and consumers," said Jon McIntyre, Solae vice president of Technology and Innovation. "After one year of research and collaboration, we are making excellent progress, and our teams are one step closer to identifying the systems that could help Solae enhance the flavor profile of soy protein."

Food manufacturers use a variety of techniques to mask undesirable bitter tastes, such as adding sugar, fat or salt to a recipe. The collaboration between Solae and Senomyx aims to develop new bitter blockers that better modulate and control bitterness in certain soy-based products. These innovations could improve the nutritional value of foods by allowing manufacturers to add more protein and use less sugar, salt and fat in their products. The bitter taste blockers may also accelerate consumer acceptance of nutritious foods containing soy protein.

"The rapid pace of our progress with the Solae bitter blocker program underscores the value of Senomyx's proprietary technologies," added Mark Zoller, Ph.D., Senomyx's chief scientific officer and executive vice president of Discovery and Development. "In relatively short order, we worked with Solae's scientists and determined the components of soy protein responsible for its bitterness, identified the bitter taste receptors activated by these components, and discovered potential new ingredients that modulate the receptor response in our assay. We are very pleased with the accomplishments being made by the Senomyx Bitter Blocker team in collaboration with our Solae partners."

In April 2007, Solae and Senomyx entered into a collaborative agreement for the discovery, development and commercialization of novel flavor ingredients intended to enhance the taste characteristics of soy proteins.

Solae Vice President of New Business Development Miguel Angelo de Oliveira noted the partnership between Solae and Senomyx will drive new innovation opportunities for Solae and its customers.

"The partnership with Senomyx will yield significant opportunities to enhance and advance soy protein's profile and role in food products,"Oliveira said. "This partnership is one of the many new business and technology initiatives that Solae anticipates embarking on in the coming years. We are dedicated to advancing global nutrition through food ingredient innovation."

Soy protein is used in a wide variety of products, including energy bars, breakfast cereals, infant formula and beverages.  As consumer demand for healthier food options increases, food manufacturers are increasingly looking to formulate products with soy protein.  The companies expect to develop novel soy protein flavor enhancers and taste modulators using Senomyx's proprietary taste receptor-based assays and screening technologies.

Under the licensing agreement, Solae will have exclusive worldwide use of the flavor ingredients in virtually all categories of foods and beverages that contain added soy protein. Solae will fund the discovery and development of these flavor systems, and Senomyx will be entitled to certain milestone and royalty payments based on sales of Solae products containing any flavor ingredients developed under the agreement.

Senomyx has entered into product discovery and development collaborations with seven of the world's foremost food, beverage and ingredient supply companies: Ajinomoto Co., Inc., Cadbury plc, Campbell Soup Company, The Coca-Cola Company, Firmenich SA, Nestle SA, and Solae. Nestle is currently marketing products that contain one of Senomyx's flavor ingredients.