In the spotlight

From cake to coffee, ‘e-Taste’ delivered, study finds

The food industry faces growing challenges due to evolving consumer demands, requiring digital technologies to enhance sensory analysis. Innovations such as eye tracking, FaceReader, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI) are transforming consumer behavior research by providing deeper insights into sensory experiences. For instance, FaceReader captures emotional responses to food by analyzing facial expressions, offering valuable data on consumer preferences for taste, texture, and aroma. Together, these technologies provide a comprehensive understanding of the sensory experience, aiding product development and branding. Electronic nose, tongue, and eye technologies also replicate human sensory capabilities, enabling objective and efficient assessment of aroma, taste, and color. The electronic nose (E-nose) detects volatile compounds for aroma evaluation, while the electronic tongue (E-tongue) evaluates taste through electrochemical sensors, ensuring accuracy and consistency in sensory analysis. The electronic eye (E-eye) analyzes food color, supporting quality control processes. These advancements offer rapid, non-invasive, reproducible assessments, benefiting research and industrial applications. By improving the precision and efficiency of sensory analysis, digital tools help enhance product quality and consumer satisfaction in the competitive food industry. This review explores the latest digital methods shaping food sensory research and innovation.

Decoding the aroma composition plays a key role in designing and producing foods that consumers prefer. Due to the complex matrix and diverse aroma compounds of foods, isolation and quantitative analytical methods were systematically reviewed. Selecting suitable and complementary aroma extraction methods based on their characteristics can provide more complete aroma composition information. Multiple mass spectrometry detectors (MS, MS/MS, TOF-MS, IMS) and specialized detectors, including flame ionization detector (FID), electron capture detector (ECD), nitrogen–phosphorus detector (NPD), and flame photometric detector (FPD), are the most important qualitative technologies in aroma identification and quantification. Furthermore, the real-time monitoring of aroma release and perception is an important developing trend in the aroma perception of future food. A combination of artificial intelligence for chromatographic analysis and characteristic databases could significantly improve the qualitative analysis efficiency and accuracy of aroma analysis. External standard method and stable isotope dilution analysis were the most popular quantification methods among the four quantification methods. The combination with flavoromics enables the decoding of aroma profile contributions and the identification of characteristic marker aroma compounds. Aroma analysis has a wide range of applications in the fields of raw materials selection, food processing monitoring, and products quality control.

Egyptians first mass produced honey as far back as 5,500 B.C., and they made what's believed to be the first candy by mixing it with sesame seeds.

Offering high-quality products is a challenge in the agri-food industry, where preserving the orange aroma is an essential factor for consumer accepta…

We’ve now figured out how to culture chocolate in the lab. The breakthrough could help with spiralling cocoa costs, and may even lead to tastier treats with more nutritional value

Taste peptides have nutritional and sensory properties, and their structural derivatives show unique taste modulation effects. The increasing number of taste peptide candidates requires a fast and accurate screening methodology using advanced detection tools. Notably, existing platforms lack integrated bioinformatics solutions to provide accurate retrieval and prediction capabilities. In response to this need, TastePeptides-Meta is proposed, comprising 2,926 peptides entries, 975 peptide structural derivatives, and 954 synergistic (enhancing) data from 282, 109, and 103 peer-reviewed studies, respectively. It was equipped with corresponding machine learning-driven prediction modules and domain-specific analytical toolkits. As an online interactive platform, TastePeptides-Meta provides multiple interfaces that allow searching, downloading and predicting taste peptides. We believe that the public availability of TastePeptides-Meta and its implementation of standardized data schemas will accelerate mechanistic investigations in the field of taste peptides and the development of data-driven, interpretable models for predicting and exploring taste mechanisms. The TastePeptides-Meta platform can be accessed online at http://www.tastepeptides-meta.com/.

Explore how sucralose may affect brain activity and appetite regulation compared to regular sugar in this insightful article.

If you've ever dreamed of becoming a professional chocolate taster, you should know that there's more to the job than just sampling delicious chocolate.

In this study, a flavor imitation method for Osmanthus fragrans aroma was developed using molecular docking screening and odor activity value (OAV) an…

We developed models to predict the odors of structurally similar molecules by focusing on human olfaction mechanisms. These models differentiated odors between similar molecules, including optical is...

The price of orange juice has fallen dramatically since the start of 2024. Why?

Whiskey has been distilled in Ireland for centuries, but the industry nearly collapsed. Find out about the complicated history and resurgence of Irish whiskey.

Our Future Chronicles column explores an imagined history of inventions yet to come – this time how, by the mid-21st century, many people were opting for a "nose job" that would supercharge their sense of smell. Rowan Hooper is our guide.

In an attempt to create a more immersive exhibition experience, art institutions in France have been employing some unusual scents

Which came first: the pepper, or the pepper?

Expanding scientific literature confirms that olfactory receptors are not only expressed within the olfactory epithelium for odor perception and trans…

Flavour is key to the success of plant-based meat. What flavours do consumers like?

As erratic weather upends the seasonal rhythms that crops depend on, farmers in the island nation of Madagascar are feeling the effects but struggle to adapt to the new normal.

Interactions between olfactory receptors (ORs) and specific odorant molecules encode many distinct odors through intricate activation patterns. In thi…

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This article was originally published in L'Édition n°25.Long misunderstood, then unfairly ignored, the sense of smell generated renewed public interest during the Covid-19 pandemic. And yet, scientists from a wide range of fields have been studying this very subject for many years now. Researchers from Université Paris-Saclay reveal their approaches and recent discoveries in this area.

Uncover the mysteries behind smell with a new study on how humans perceive and describe various odors and scents.

Exploring how flavor chemists, or "flavorists," create imaginative—and imaginary—flavors.