Senomyx milestone in Coca-Cola flavor

29-Oct-2008 - Last updated on 29-Oct-2008 at 16:53 GMT

Related tags Sugar The coca-cola company

Senomyx says it has made significant progress in discovering a new flavor ingredient to reduce sugar content without compromising taste.

The ingredient company said that it has received a payment from The Coca-Cola Company related to the “milestone” which it has achieved under its collaborative research, development, commercialization and license agreement.

Senomyx which uses proprietary technologies to discover and develop novel flavor ingredients for the food, beverage and ingredient supply industries, said the payment was associated with its discovery of a “promising new flavor ingredient”.

Kent Snyder, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, said: “This is an exciting time for Senomyx as we continue development activities with a new flavor ingredient that can be used to reduce the amount of sugar in beverages and foods while retaining the desired taste."

Coca-Cola would not add any further comment.

Senomyx entered into a collaborative research, development, commercialization and license agreement with The Coca-Cola Company in April 2002. The agreement was most recently extended and expanded in April 2008.

A spokesperson for the company said that the details are confidential, but the companies are cooperating on activities related to the discovery, development, and worldwide commercialization of new flavor ingredients.

Senomyx uses proprietary taste receptor technologies to try and discover and develop novel flavor ingredients in the savory, sweet, salt, bitter, and cooling areas.

It already has collaborations with other major food, beverage, and ingredient supply companies including Ajinomoto, Cadbury, Campbell Soup Company, Firmenich SA, Nestle SA, and Solae.

Improving taste

Senomyx and Solae recently announced that they had reached a critical milestone in the development of new bitter blockers to improve the taste of soy.

It is hoped the bitter blockers will better modulate and control bitterness in certain soy-based products and as a result, improve the nutritional value of foods by allowing manufacturers to add more protein and use less sugar, salt and fat.

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.