The ingredient supplier introduced Palate Perfect, a new portfolio of fermentation-derived flavors designed with formulation versatility and cost-in-use efficiency, during IFT’s annual Food Improved by Research, Science and Technology (FIRST) expo.
Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition debuted its fermented tomato flavor, Palate Perfect FL-TM, that offers developers a clean label ingredient for enhancing tomato taste, while navigating increasing pressures around supply volatility and ingredient costs, Tia Rains, VP of science, innovation & corporate affairs, Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition, explained during the show in Chicago earlier this month.
The company developed the ingredient partly due to tomato crop shortages on the California coast, which strained tomato processors and food manufacturers alike, Rains said.
The result is a fermented fresh tomato flavor with umami notes to boost savory flavors in sauces, condiments & dressings, juices and seasonings that replaces high value ingredients, like tomato puree, she added.
Other companies explored similar routes.
BASF, for example, commercialized fermentation-derived versions of nootkatone and valencene, high-value citrus flavors traditionally sourced from grapefruit and orange, respectively. These ingredients reduce reliance on low-yield crops due to disease (i.e. citrus greening) or climate-related incidents, and offer consistent quality and scalable production. They are particularly useful for companies navigating crop shortages or price volatility in natural extracts.
Palate Perfect FL-TM functions as a natural flavor under FEMA GRAS regulations, and can be labeled as “fermented tomato powder (salt, tomato, paste, yeast)” or “natural flavor.”
It also is suitable for non-GMO Project Verified products, vegan and vegetarian formulas, and is gluten-free, according to Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition.
A little goes a long way
Cost-in-use is central to Palate Perfect’s value proposition, particularly as brands face growing pressure to deliver bold flavor at lower usage rates, Rains noted.
“What we’ve tried to do is focus on cost-in-use and ensure that our technologies are powerful, so that you don’t need to use very much of them,” she said.
Palate Perfect is the latest extension of Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition’s customized R&D model, one that also underpins Salt Answer, the company’s sodium reduction platform that leverages umami to deliver measurable reductions in salt content – often without any compromise in sensory performance or cost, Rains noted
“We found in some cases, you can even get a cost down, because by amplifying the umami, you may be able to cut back in some other higher cost ingredients,” she said.
‘We want to make sure that there’s a tool for everyone’
While the tomato flavor is the first product under the Palate Perfect lineup, more are on the horizon – some labeled as natural, others not – all aimed at offering practical solutions for food and beverage developers across categories, Rains elaborated.
“We want to make sure that there’s a tool for everyone,” she said.
