Headquartered in Switzerland with a presence in over 145 locations worldwide, Givaudan has more than 250 years of history creating scents and tastes. Positioned as the co-creation partner of choice for its customers, Givaudan Taste & Wellbeing works to develop food experiences that do good and feel good, for body, mind and planet. The co-creation approach has been a key component to the company’s success in addressing the evolving needs of both customers and consumers.
Marta Kusnierz is Regional Marketing Manager for Plant Attitude at Givaudan where her main mission is to stay ahead of new food trends and their impact on Givaudan customers. She regularly works to identify gaps and looks for new opportunities in plant-based space.
What are the biggest challenges you’re solving for plant-based meat alternative producers when it comes to replicating the taste and aroma of conventional meat?
When it comes to mimicking conventional meat, several factors need to be taken into consideration, such as taste, texture and potential off notes of the protein base. Addressing taste with core flavours like chicken or beef helps to replicate conventional meat. Masking and mouthfeel tools help us with texture and cover potential off notes. At Givaudan we look at products holistically to ensure a well-rounded food experience that consumers will love. We collaborate with our customers through co-creation, working closely together in order to answer consumer needs. We regularly conduct consumer insights research to accurately identify consumer needs and respond accordingly.
Texture and mouthfeel are critical to consumer acceptance of plant-based meats. How does Givaudan approach the development of solutions that enhance the sensory experience, such as chewiness, juiciness, or fat-like qualities?
Indeed these attributes are very important and understanding them begins by being able to accurately describe them. This is where we see the importance of Sensory panels. At Givaudan we hold four such panels, run by a team of specialized panellists. Using our unique SenseIt® language, these “professional testers” are able to describe attributes of products they are tasting. SenseIt® is a language full of over 400 descriptors that helps unravel consumer experiences and address the specific needs of our customers through tangible testing results.
You collaborated with Juicy Marbles to develop a plant-based whole cut. Could you share more details about this partnership?
Indeed, we’re excited about our collaboration with Juicy Marbles, an innovative company that shares our values. We worked together to co-create a wonderful tasting steak. It is a one-of-a-kind product, mimicking a T-Bone steak. The co-creation process involved working with Juicy Marbles alongside Givaudan’s technical and creation teams to develop the best taste experience. Juicy Marbles brought to us their breakthrough technology and we were able to apply our portfolio of taste solutions.
We would like to work with more customers, optimising their base and creating unique flavours for them. We also offer a triangle collaboration between Juicy Marbles, customers and Givaudan which could help see more of Juicy Marble products worldwide.
What specific technologies or innovations is Givaudan currently leveraging to create clean-label, sustainable, and cost-effective solutions for plant-based meat producers?
There are multiple solutions in our portfolio that allow us to answer different customer needs. We always look at the recipe in a holistic way in order to address different challenges. For example, we can neutralize undesired protein off notes with masking and mouthfeel tools and deliver not only the taste of meat, but also complex tastes such as umami using natural flavours. Cost is definitely an aspect we cannot neglect and is taken into account as we tailor our solutions to each customer.
Looking ahead, what emerging trends or gaps in the plant-based meat alternative market is Givaudan focusing on, and how do you plan to address these through your portfolio of solutions?
There is a new trend we are seeing in the plant-based space of “Truly not meat” products that do not try to mimic real meat, but still bring the protein aspect of it. We recently did an extensive consumer study across Europe and found that people are open to trying new product formats, especially among people who are not new to vegan or vegetarian diets. These people are no longer looking to mimic their burger; they simply want a creative and great-tasting meal.
We decided to show our customers what consumers would like to bring to their barbecue and surprise them with different products. We demonstrated our solutions for mimicking real meat products like burgers with beef and grill solutions and chicken drumsticks with two different flavour directions: one for the meat part and another for the skin. We also worked with Juicy Marbles to create a steak which answers the newest trend of whole cuts in plant-based space.
To address the “Truly not meat” trend, we developed a surprising Mexican-inspired pulled dish without any meaty direction but packed with primary smoke and spicy Mexican flavours, and a Mediterranean skewer inspired by herbs with our newest Umami solutions and primary smoke-free flavours.
