The Real Tastemakers Behind Artificial Flavors
During the early and mid-20th century, when refrigeration was commercially developed and rolled out into modern homes, convenience became an important selling point for processed, ready-to-eat, and frozen foods. However, the methods used to preserve foods against microbial decay for long-term refrigeration and freezing resulted in the deterioration of flavor. The result? Many of these processed foods ended up tasting bland.

The rise of organic chemistry during the mid-1800s also led to new organic compounds that could be readily and cheaply produced. Many of these compounds made processed foods taste similar to how they’d taste in their original form (prior to heat processing). Over time, it became clear that mixtures of compounds, each at varying concentrations, could be used to both mimic and impart new flavors to foods, preserving their taste. Chemical instruments and methods for analyzing the composition of food flavors became increasingly sophisticated, allowing food technologists to reconstruct the flavor profile of foods with greater precision and accuracy.

A human intermediary is always needed to bridge the gap between chemical analysis and subjective taste.

However, despite advancements in analytical methodology, the human element remains invaluable in flavor design. For example, while only a small handful of signature compounds can be said to “taste” like strawberry, a real strawberry may contain hundreds of compounds that, together, create a unique depth of flavor. These smaller components may only be present at parts per million or billion. They may barely make a blip on a chromatograph, but their impact on our senses is disproportionately large.

While the most sophisticated gas chromatograph has limits of detection of 10 parts per billion, human noses have been reported to smell some aromas at around 0.000000001 parts per billion. For this reason, a human intermediary is always needed to bridge the gap between chemical analysis and subjective taste.

That is where a flavorist comes in.
['Bryan Quoc Le']
['Food', 'Science', 'Work', 'Careers', 'Technology']