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As manufacturers add protein, fibre and other functional ingredients while reducing sugar, salt and fat, maintaining an enjoyable sensory experience has become increasingly complex. FoodBev's Rafaela Sousa explores the technologies helping formulators rebuild taste from the ground up.
A functional drink can meet every nutritional requirement but still fail if consumers do not like the taste. Its protein content may be impressive, its sugar level low and its ingredient list carefully considered, but if it tastes chalky, bitter or metallic, the consumer is unlikely to return for a second bottle.
This is making taste modulation an increasingly important part of product development. At its simplest, the term describes technologies used to reduce undesirable sensory characteristics or strengthen desirable ones. In practice, however, it has moved far beyond disguising a single unpleasant note.
“Food and beverage manufacturers are managing a broader range of sensory challenges as products become more complex,” said Mauro Trevisani, general manager for North America and global division manager for taste modulation at HealthTech Bio Actives (HTBA). He stated that the challenge now covers “the full sensory profile, including taste, texture, aroma, mouthfeel and aftertaste”.
The commercial market is expanding alongside that formulation challenge. Market research company Mordor Intelligence forecasts that the global taste modulators market will grow from $1.8 billion in 2026 to $2.6 billion by 2031, representing a compound annual growth rate of 7.65%. Yet the growth of the category is not simply about correcting more products. It reflects a change in the way modulation is being used: earlier in development and as part of the overall sensory design. This approach recognises that changing one ingredient can affect everything from flavour and texture to mouthfeel and aftertaste.
Reformulating without losing taste
Sugar is a clear example. It provides sweetness, but it also affects texture, flavour release and the way sweetness develops across each sip or bite. When sugar is removed or partly replaced with high intensity sweeteners, the product can lose body and balance, while alternatives such as stevia may introduce bitterness, metallic notes or a lingering aftertaste.
As FlavorSum’s Brooke Hutton, product manager for technology platforms, put it: “Non-nutritive sweeteners cannot always fully replace sugar’s contribution to the formula”.
Similar formulation challenges can be seen across other product categories. Guillaume Blancher, global portfolio director for Tastesense Modulation at Kerry, said reducing salt in snacks can weaken the overall savoury experience, while cutting sugar in bakery products can introduce “fundamental
structural changes” to their texture.
“Taste challenges rarely sit in isolation,” added Blancher. “Manufacturers are trying to reduce sugar or sodium, add functional benefits, simplify labels, respond to regulation, manage cost pressures and protect supply resilience – all while delivering a product that still tastes complete and satisfying.”
Regulation forms one part of this wider pressure. In the UK, the Soft Drinks Industry Levy – often called the ‘sugar tax’ – encourages sugar reformulation, while restrictions on the display and multi-buy promotion of products high in fat, sugar or salt may encourage other manufacturers to review their recipes.
Removing ingredients is only half of the story. As functional food and drink have expanded, formulators have faced an equally difficult question: what happens to taste when protein, fibre, minerals, botanicals and other active ingredients are added?
When function fights flavour
FlavorSum’s Hutton said added ingredients can bring notes ranging from sour and metallic to grassy and bitter. She pointed out that proteins may contribute bitterness, chalkiness, dryness, sulphur notes or a lingering aftertaste. Fibre can create a grainy texture or mute flavours, while vitamins and minerals may introduce metallic notes, bitterness and astringency. Botanicals can taste earthy, herbal, medicinal or tannic, and nootropics may produce bitter or chemical notes that remain after consumption.
Even ingredients within the same category can behave differently. Kerry’s Blancher noted that whey protein typically brings bitterness, astringency and sourness, while soy can produce beany or cardboard-like notes. Collagen varies by source: marine varieties may be fishy or algae-like, while bovine collagen may taste brothy or animalic.
Tom Cleghorn, European category development manager at Synergy Flavours, agreed, adding that collagen used in functional beverages and ready-tomix powders can introduce meaty, fishy and umami notes. To manage these characteristics, he pointed to masking technologies that neutralise undesirable flavours and create a cleaner base. Mouthfeel and indulgence enhancers can then reduce chalkiness and astringency while restoring richness.
For high-protein dairy products, Cleghorn highlighted Synergy’s astringency masking solution, developed to reduce chalkiness, astringency and dry mouthfeel while improving creaminess. He said: “Astringency and chalky mouthfeel are major complaints from consumers in high-protein yogurt and dairy applications, which is why we targeted this with our astringency masking solution”.
He also recommended flavour pairing. Instead of relying only on a masker, formulators can work with flavour partners to select compounds that blend with the target flavour and complement the base.
“Adaptogens, such as ashwagandha...can carry bitter and earthy off-notes, which can be hard to mask,” he added. “In addition to using masking technologies, manufacturers could also consider flavour pairing these ingredients, using expertise from their flavour partners to identify flavour compounds that have similar chemical compositions, to cover off-notes by blending them with target flavours that work in harmony with the base.”
FlavorSum’s Hutton said flavour systems using vanilla, chocolate, brown flavours and certain fruit profiles can help create a more balanced sensory experience. Citing Innova Market Insights, Lisa Jackson, director of marketing at FlavorSum, identified sports nutrition powders, cereals and energy or nutrition bars as the leading categories benefiting from taste modulation.
Each format brings its own challenges. Hutton noted that cereal flavour systems must perform both dry and with milk, while “the longer ‘chew time’ of nutrition bars gives more time for off-notes to emerge”.
The FlavorSum Modulate portfolio brings these functions together through flavours with modulating properties for sweetness optimisation, bitterness masking and protein masking.
The challenge intensifies when several functional ingredients share one recipe. HTBA’s Trevisani gives the example of a drink combining plant protein, a stevia-based sweetener system and a botanical active. It does not create three independent problems, he said, but “one complex, interconnected one”.
For formulations such as this, he pointed to the company’s OptiTaste Sweetness, Balance and Masking solutions, which can reduce bitterness and lingering aftertaste, improve flavour clarity and help restore mouthfeel.
When several sensory problems occur at once, formulators must first identify the off-note or texture most likely to put consumers off. They can then select a targeted solution rather than relying on a general masker.
Finding the right fix
A product described simply as ‘bitter’ may contain several distinct sensory problems, making accurate diagnosis essential. Kerry’s Blancher said modern masking requires a “deeper, science-backed understanding of the specific off-notes generated by these substrates”. Kerry’s Tastesense Masking uses sensory and analytical techniques to identify those notes and their sources before a targeted solution is developed.
Blancher also pointed to the company’s Tastesense Masking Simulator for protein beverages. “Users can use this tool to pinpoint the specific off-notes they are experiencing and unlock the appropriate masking technologies,” he said. “They can also order samples instantly, helping to accelerate development and testing.”
Another perspective on the practical use of masking comes from Synergy’s Cleghorn, who uses a pyramid to illustrate one possible formulation approach.
“Masking solutions are essential in a taste modulation tool kit,” he said. In his example, a carrier such as a high-protein whey base forms the bottom of the pyramid. Adding the characterising flavour without first treating the base can allow astringency and chalkiness to affect mouthfeel, texture and flavour intensity. A modulation layer is therefore applied above the protein base to neutralise these undesirable notes, creating what Cleghorn describes as a “clean slate” on which the final flavour can be built.
Receptor science provides another route to more targeted masking. HTBA’s Trevisani highlighted citrus- and apple-derived flavonoids that act as bitter blockers, reducing perceived bitterness from substances including stevioside and caffeine.
In some applications, he said, they can also enhance perceived sweetness. Within OptiTaste, that receptor-level effect can be used alongside balancing and masking tools to create a more rounded result.
A similar focus on receptor science can be seen at DSM-Firmenich. Karel Stoschek, executive VP of Taste at the company, explained that DSM-Firmenich’s receptor-based discovery identifies molecules that interact with particular taste or odour receptors. “This requires more precise taste masking, which is possible only through advanced science like our receptor-based discovery,” he said. Flavourists can integrate the molecules into tailored sweetness and umami modulators, off-flavour maskers, alcohol-sensation mimickers and cooling modulators.
One commercial application of this receptor-led approach is DSM-Firmenich’s ModulaSense range. Developed for the company’s Vertis CanolaPro plant protein, the maskers target bitterness, astringency and liquorice-like notes at molecular level in ready-to-mix beverages and protein bars.
Stoschek stated that DSM-Firmenich combines flavour creation, sensory science, ingredient functionality and nutrition with consumer insights, digital sensory tools and receptor-based taste science. This helps customers optimise sweetness perception, flavour balance and mouthfeel while
maintaining their nutritional objectives.
Taste modulation is no longer simply a final stage attempt to cover an unwanted note. Whether through masking solutions, flavour pairing, mouthfeel enhancers, sensory analysis or receptor science, the aim is to understand how each ingredient affects the complete sensory experience and rebuild what reformulation has disrupted.
As manufacturers reduce sugar, salt and fat while adding protein, fibre and other functional ingredients, this approach will only become more important. A strong nutritional proposition may persuade consumers to try a product, but taste will determine whether they choose it again. Ultimately, the most successful modulation is the kind consumers never notice – they simply enjoy the next sip or bite.
