With today’s consumer focusing on sustainability, traceability and healthy lifestyles, the alternative protein movement is gaining momentum across all food and beverage product categories. Emmanuel Laroche, Vice President Marketing and Consumer Insights, Symrise Flavors NA, says, “Consumer desire for more product variety and better tasting products will mean that manufacturers will need to innovate and differentiate themselves in order to thrive. At Symrise, our global approach combines the understanding of protein sources with our core taste expertise and deep market understanding to develop products in the key categories of meat alternatives, dairy alternatives and nutritional beverages. We call this new global initiative Taste for Alternative Protein (TAP).”

It is Symrise’s aim, as a Taste solution partner, to provide best-in-class taste solutions for plant-based foods and beverages. Symrise R & D teams have a holistic approach to innovation, a deep understanding of ingredients at a molecular level, global insight into consumer needs and product development expertise. They employ a wide array of tools to generate insights into this market for food and beverage manufacturers. By utilizing their proprietary Trendscope Reports, Taste Treks and chef network, they are able to identify product, ingredient and flavor trends, enabling Symrise to determine what is happening with alternative protein-related cooking techniques and recipes around the world. They also employ social media listening to understand what consumer perceptions and expectations are toward these products.