Project

Call for Partners | Replicator: generating reaction flavours of plant-based foods upon heating

Many food products (e.g. meat, coffee, cocoa) acquire their distinctive flavour profile during heating steps such as roasting, baking or frying. This flavour-formation upon heating is due to precursors being converted upon heating into desired flavour molecules (reaction flavours). Plant-based meat analogues generally lack the right precursors and therefore do not develop the desired roasting or meaty flavours during heating. This project will focus on developing the precursors that generate these desired reaction flavours.

The Gap:

In recent years, we have witnessed the emergence of numerous new plant-based food and beverage analogues. While some of these products are rapidly gaining traction and pose a good alternative for their original counterparts, a quality gap still exists, hindering full consumer acceptance.

Most plant-based analogues are typically flavoured by adding pre-formed flavour blocks to achieve the desired roasted or fried aroma and taste. Since many plant-based analogues require a heating step before consumption, providing the required Maillard precursors before heating as part of the formulation, would be a great approach for generating optimally flavoured, clean label plant-based analogues with less artificially added flavours.

Aim:

This project aims to identify and generate precursor compounds that will impart the desired flavour characteristics to plant-based products such as coffee, chocolate, and meat analogues when heated and is organised into five work packages:

  1. Defining the relevant Maillard precursors required for specific taste profiles
  2. Creating a high-throughput screening (HTS) method to analyse flavour compounds generated during heating
  3. Designing strategies for large-scale production of precursor molecules for the Maillard reaction by means of fermentation, enzymatic processes, and other reactions
  4. Screening a wide range of ferments and processing samples before and after heating to identify the formation of desired Maillard flavour profiles created by the heating step
  5. Creating an easy to search database containing all results from the screening and the newly acquired knowledge on the Maillard precursors

Outcome

The main outcome of this project will be an easy to search database containing the difference between the flavour profiles of all analysed fermentation or processing steps before and after heating. Combined with the newly acquired knowledge of requirements of the Maillard precursors, this database will assist in enabling food producers to design their products to contain the relevant precursor molecules and include the required processing steps for generating the desired flavour sensation of the product by the consumer upon heating.

Partners

We are looking for partners to jointly apply for the TKI-A&F PPS Agri & Food grant call (deadline: September 1, 2024). We welcome participation from food manufacturers, ingredient suppliers, and flavour houses interested in enhancing the consumer experience of heated food products.

The project will be governed by a project committee with one representative per partner, which is responsible for high-level oversight, IP development, and dissemination​. A financial contribution of at least 50% is needed from the commercial partners (25% cash, 25% in kind).