The Flavorists: Tweaking tastes and creating cravings

 

(CBS News) 

When you chug a sports drink or chew a stick of gum, you probably don't think of science. But there is a precise science - and a delicate art - behind what you're tasting. Morley Safer reports on the multibillion dollar flavor industry, whose scientists create natural and artificial flavorings that make your mouth water and keep you coming back for more.

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The following is a script of "The Flavorists" which aired on Nov. 27, 2011. Morley Safer is correspondent, Ruth Streeter, producer.

As the Thanksgiving weekend comes to a close, you may feel as overstuffed as that turkey you ate. And if you're overweight - and the chances are, you are, it's probably because you eat too much, too much of the wrong stuff. Most of the wrong stuff we eat comes in a bottle, a can, or a box - food that's been processed - much of that food has been flavored.

The flavoring industry is the enabler of the food processing business - which depends on it to create a craving for everything from soda pop to chicken soup. It is Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory as a multibillion dollar industry; an industry cloaked in secrecy. But recently Givaudan, the largest flavoring company in the world, allowed us in to see them work their magic.

[Jim Hassel: So definitely an aroma, the mandarin, dancy tangerine. Real mild though. Not in your face.]

These are "super sniffers," "super tasters"...

[Andy Daniher: And more bitter.]

...on the prowl. The special forces - first responders to the call for the next best taste.

[Andy Daniher: The mandarin notes are fantastic.]

They are braving the wilds of a citrus grove in Riverside, California, where Jim Hassel - whose nose and palette are legendary - leads a Givaudan team on a taste safari. Big game hunters in search of the next great taste in soft drinks. Their inspiration? The greatest flavorist of them all: Mother Nature.

Jim Hassel: Seeing everything that's available really just drives the whole creative process.

Morley Safer: Like an artist going to Rome or something?

Hassel: Correct. Correct.

Safer: But the ultimate purpose is to sell more soft drinks or whatever?

Hassel: That's what we're in the business of, selling flavors.

Safer: Let's go sniffing.

Our perception of taste is largely located in the nose, but described in the language of music.

Dawn Streich: Do you get like a tropical note? A little bit of papaya? Potentially?

Andy Daniher: Cotton candy note?

Dawn Streich: Cotton candy a little bit.

They are plotting how to move the flavors they find in this grove to your supermarket shelf and then on to your stomach.

Hassel: I could see it in a sports drink, I could see it in a flavored water. And I also could see it in a twist on an orange carbonated beverage.

When they find something they like, they extract its flavor molecules from the fruit on the tree. Then back in the lab, they mimic Mother Nature's molecules with chemicals.

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[inspiredhomecooking]

It's a huge problem to a parent trying to get a child to eat a real piece of fruit when they have eaten candy and the real thing is not as sweet. Real food doesn't taste as appealing - but it should. It's up to us as individuals to change what we buy.
The only way to eat good quality is to buy whole foods and cook with whole foods. Cooking real food is quality - it has the ability to change our quality of life.

[ckns11]

I think it always come down to a balance. I don't think we can place all of the blame on the food industry for wanting to make their food taste great. I think we, as consumers, have to have the motivation and discipline to be able to control how much we eat and to stay healthy. I use a great resource called Natural Standard, which has a health and wellness database, where I can look up a ton of information on staying healthy and about different types of diets as well.

[mattenn2000]

Flavoring foods is an industry. Industry is driven by making money to survive in a tough economy. The practice of food makers adding flavoring to make the product more acceptable to the customer has been going on long before the expansion of the nations waistline. I don't think it is acceptable to place the sole blame for the obesity epidemic on the shoulders of the flavoring industry or the food industry for that matter. The companies are just doing what any company would do to make money, even if it is not in your best interest. The vague idea that a natural flavoring is better for you is also obscure. It should be required that sources or ingredients of "natural flavorings" bee disclosed. Then from here we could use viable sources, such as Natural Standard, a database on integrative medicine to make informative decisions on what we want to put in our bodies.

[anna321tx]

Of course the flavorists and food industry are not solely to blame for rising obesity rates, but they are major contributors.

Adding flavors to make certain foods more palatable may be a long-standing practice, but I bet the rise and prevalence of processed junk food at it's height in the 1980's also correlated with the corresponding rise in obesity rates from increased consumption of these said food products.

Certainly everyone should exercise personal responsibility and self-education in regards to what they put in their mouths, but it is often not so simple as that. Insidious commercials featuring moms feeding their family processed crap as a way to show her love or as a "healthy" alternative (sweetended "natural" fruit juices) is as damaging to our public health as cigarette commercials targeting men, women, and children. Meanwhile the kids growing up eating this junk are the ones most adversly affected.

[flavorscientist]

I'm a food scientist (BS in 1992) and flavor chemist. I studied food science to learn more about food and had a goal to provide healthy/non-cancer causing food to the consumer. Most of us involved in Food Production are good people, with families. We are concerned about health & safety. In my career, I have learned to trust the largest companies most. They don't cut corners at a safety expense or mis-label. My concern with our society and food, is that we are too busy. We don't cook or teach our children how to cook. When I was in 4-H in the 80's, we were teased in school. 4H taught me about how to prepare food & agriculture. Do they still have home economics in school? Do they still have Physical Education? Where are our priorities as a nation? Flavor chemists love food, cooking, eating and providing for the consumer.

[EMichaelR]

This story blamed the flavor scientists at Givaudan for making Americans fat. Morley Safer also said the company operates all around the world.

So then, how come only Americans got so fat from Givaudan flavors, and not the rest of the world?

Givaudan is based in Europe and operates in Asia and Africa, but people in those places are no where near as fat as those here in the U.S.A.

[anna321tx]

I suspect that if you looked at the younger generations, who are more likely to consume the processed "foods" that these flavorist help to maunfacture, you will find in alarming increase in obesity/malnutrition as compared to the older, more traditional-eating generations.

I have seen first-hand the impact of the American-style fast food/junk food diets on producing more and more fat kids in countries such as China, Vietnam, India, and many in Europe - areas that traditionally rarely see chubby, much less fat people.

[tewks6288]

1. I agree with the comment that the synthetically produced chemicals are the same structurally as the natural-source chemicals and should not be solely criticized for the fact that it isn't "natural". However, when specific components of food are extracted and then hodgepodged together, I think some crucial nutrition from the original source is lost. Researchers have only uncovered the tip of the iceberg for many already delicious spices and herbs with regards to their inherent health benefits. You can learn more about these potential health boosters, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic, turmeric, and more at Natural Standard, a database on integrative medicine. We may begin to more thoroughly enjoy these natural flavors if we reduce our intake of the "flavor-enhanced" foods (for example, fruit tastes less sweet and satisfying after you regularly overload on candy).

[knguyen842]

Using great taste to put into processed foods or not so tasty foods hides the fact that we are eating bad quality food or food not necessarily healthy for us. It's like the process of using positive reinforcement when teaching an animal. So many people are trying to find a scapegoat to blame for the alarming increase in incidence of obesity. What about lack of exercise, not choosing the right foods, over eating, and many other reasons are also the causes. I saw on Natural Standard a great regimen on how to start exercising and what a healthy diet really consists of. You can see that exercise does not mean just walking, although that's what the lay public believes. People should be at the very least briskly walking or people could try doing something more engaging, like tennis.

Individual responsibility should be taken into consideration. It's like someone saying it is Givaudon's fault for making me addicted to Cheetos and therefore making me fat. Yes the food industry is trying to make things taste good, but it is also up to the individual to know when to stop or think twice about what they are eating, how much they are eating, why they are eating it, etc. Not choosing the right foods is not the sole reason as to why people are obese.

[eveo99]

Where is Michele Obama when you need her? Would be interested in hearing what she has to say when her spouse accepts campaign money from big-food companies. Besides, this stuff is gross. I continue to tell my kids, no boxed food for us. Big-food is as bad as big-pharma.

These people are on a mission to make the unsuspecting obese and continue to drive up health care costs to further support big-pharma and big-government healthcare. What a sick cycle we are on. Thanks for exposing some truth on the matter. Killed my appetite.

[baileyccc]

So this is the next Monsanto. Food Processing is the down fall of American with spiraling health care cost as it's running mate.

Fruits and vegetables was the answer to this madness but then they have been assaulted as well by corrupt corporate greed.

Science at it's worst, bye bye American Pie.

[BMWMommee]

We can blame the flavorists, the media, the advertisers, the food companies for our weight/health issues. The truth is it is our own choices and our bodies reaction to those choices that are at fault. We eat too much and exercise too little. Most Americans don't drink enough water or eat enough fresh food. We can't blame anyone else. Unprocessed foods are available, but too many people have lost the art of cooking them, or simply do not have the time. Processed foods are a by-product of busy, or lazy, lifestyles. If they flavorists can make these healthy as well as tasty. . .more power to them.