UNPA Sensapue Event with Industry Leaders

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UNPA Sensapue Event with Industry Leaders

Last month, we had the pleasure to collaborate with the United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA). We hosted an inspiring and influential event tapping into the world-class expertise of industry leaders. Addressing four significant opportunities for product development in the nutraceutical/ sports nutrition industry. These industry leaders provided thought-provoking insight on what’s next for the world of nutrition and beyond.

Active Ingredient Pathways

Shawn Wells, CEO of Halo Research and ingredient innovator, shared his knowledge on up-and-coming active ingredients sure to create new pathways for the industry. Focusing on the power of raw materials, Wells expanded on how brands and manufacturers can utilize the benefits of fresh game-changing ingredients to take their products to the top shelf. Wells gave us insight into ways we can work to manipulate product bases containing innovative ingredients to better serve our clients.

Shawn Wells (left,) CEO of Halo Research, and Jeff Reynolds, Founder, and CEO of Sensapure Flavors and Dyad Labs.

Industry Leaders Inspired Us

In a presentation titled “What You Should Know Before the FDA Comes Calling,” GMP and FDA compliance expert Jasmina Kanazir gave us an inside look at the evolving landscape of current regulations and compliances. With first-hand experience on how to navigate the rules and requirements surrounding product development, Kanazir inspired our audience with her innovative approach to resource-saving solutions. While new products are entering the market every day, Kanazir and her team continue to emphasize the importance of accurate testing methods and label claim verification. As industry leaders, it was inspiring to hear from them.

Jasmina Kanazir, an expert in quality, process, and efficiency, shares her experience in improving the compliance process for brands and manufacturers across the board.

During the lunch break, attendees took tours of our brand new space and had lunch complete with Sensapure flavored drinks, of course.

Intellectual Property

We also had the privilege to hear from Joe Chang, Nu Skin’s Science Officer,  who highlighted the import role of product development in building a brands value. Through ingredient innovation and research, NU skin has not only built a $3 Billion brand but has demonstrated how to make cutting edge technology a key part of the product development process.

Chang explained how controlling your intellectual property and managing your manufacturer can be components in building and growing your brands’ value.

Dr. Joe Chang, Chief Science Officer for NuSkin International shares his process for maximizing product innovation.

Aaron Secrist, Vice President of Quality and Regulatory Affairs at now, highlighted the importance of shelf life validation in brand integrity. While shelf life dating is currently voluntary, brands and manufacturers who lean into the benefits of shelf life dating can minimize their liability significantly. At Sensapure, we consider shelf life stability as a vital part of product development, and we were eager to gain more insight on this expansive opportunity for brands and manufacturers.

Customer Loyalty

Lastly, Jeff Reynolds, the Founder of Genysis Brand Solutions (now part of Nellson Nutraceuticals), Dyad Labs, and Sensapure Flavors, shared his perspective on how a robust validation program helps maintain customer loyalty. Reynolds knows that although running quality operations year in and year out is an investment of time and resources, the value of loyal customers is worth the effort.

We want to thank UNPA, our attendees, industry leaders, and supporters for making this event possible. Here at Sensapure, we believe that strong partnerships are paramount in creating cutting edge products that work for both brands and your customers alike. We are looking forward to seeking more knowledge and connecting further with the flavor community. If you are interested in hearing about future events at Sensapure, follow our LinkedIn profile for updates.

Jeff Reynolds, experienced Founder and CEO in the sports nutrition space showing attendees around Sensapure’s brand new building.

About Sensapure Flavors:

Sensapure Flavors services the nutrition and supplement industry with exciting flavor technology and unmatched applications experience. Born in a manufacturing company that understands the ever-changing needs of the nutraceutical industry, Sensapure combines new flavor technologies with deep product application experience.

Contact Us Today!

Becoming a Flavor Chemist

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Becoming a Flavor Chemist

It’s no secret that flavor chemistry is an invaluable art to the food and nutraceuticals industry. But few understand the complex formula to officially becoming a flavor chemist in today’s ever-changing professional climate. It requires a level of dedication and expertise even more specific and exclusive than that of a rocket scientist.

Flavor Taste Testing

Value of a Virtuoso Flavor Chemist

According to the Society Of Flavor Chemists’ records, the first meetings were held in 1959 NYC in Little Italy’s restaurants. When the professional society was first created, there were only 14 recorded members. Today, there are only a few hundred in the entire US. Needless to say, becoming a flavor chemist is a commitment of time and passion in which few follow through.

Although almost everyone has tasted a product created by a flavor chemist, few interact with one on a personal basis. “You have to really want to be a flavor chemist to be a flavor chemist,” joked Mariano Gascon. He’s one of Sensapure’s Flavors flavor chemists, and he isn’t kidding. Becoming a flavor chemist doesn’t require education beyond a bachelor’s degree in food science, chemistry, or related disciplines. But it does require an extensive amount of training and testing.

A seven-year apprenticeship period approved by the Society Of Flavor Chemists is just the beginning of the journey. Once candidates pass their post apprenticeship review, they must complete an additional approved five-year apprenticeship.

Flavor chemists approved by the society are rare and in high in demand throughout the industry. This is because the robust program is completed by so few. Flavor houses that employ flavor chemists stand out against the rest for two main reasons. The competitive nature of recruiting them is one reason, as well as the difficulty of keeping them. The value they bring, however, is incomparable.

The Chemistry of Consumer Loyalty

While the food industry has evolved dramatically over the past 50 years, flavor chemists have remained a critical aspect in bridging the gap between food manufacturers and the desires of a consumer. By providing an intimate understanding of the relationship an individual has with a product from the moment they first encounter it to the very last taste, flavor chemists are critical in maintaining consumer loyalty. However, that’s not to say that the flavor industry hasn’t evolved with the technology that replaced human production lines with machine ones.

In fact, due to new and improved instrumentation such as computers, liquid chromatography, and updates in profiling technology, flavor chemists have been able to accelerate their abilities to improve products and formulas in order to achieve better, more cost-effective and attainable solutions for both food manufacturers and consumers alike.

Bright Beverage

Flavor Industry Evolution

Evolution in the flavor industry doesn’t stop there. As the media continues to advance the pace of trend reach and demand for what’s current, the role of a flavor chemist is extending far beyond chemistry and insight. While becoming a flavor chemist requires a specific set of skills and accreditations, it also requires something less tangible; creativity.

Gascon says that flavor chemists call themselves “artists,” for a reason. In his journey to become a flavor chemist, he also attended culinary school. Gascon says that qualitative aspects of becoming a chef are similar to becoming a flavor chemist, “Chefs and flavor chemists interpret things differently,” he said, “but they both contain the essence of creativity.”

Although Gascon practices his creativity both in the lab and in the kitchen, he believes that the most important aspect of becoming a flavor chemist is gaining the competency to precisely identify with the consumer. “When I’m writing a formula I think about what the consumer is tasting in the beginning middle and end,” he says.

This ability to instinctively curate a consumer’s individual experience with one flavor profile out of thousands of chemicals is just one of the things that set flavor chemists apart from the rest of the players in the industry.

Flavor Chemist

Standard of Excellence

Gascon says that while there is no ‘typical day’ in the life of a flavor chemist, there is certainly the common denominator of sensory mastery. Flavor chemist apprentices must be able to memorize and identify many hundreds of different chemicals — by smell — in order to pass the rigorous tests required; defining them as experts in all things organoleptic.

Their olfactory mastery and chemistry memorization skills continue to be a part of their careers on a daily basis. Flavor chemists don’t only need to know the chemicals well enough to make good flavors, but also to combine their properties into a blend that meets the specific needs of each client. When working with flavor chemists, clients experience a unique level of collaboration and artistry that they will surely never forget.

If you are interested in learning more about how flavor chemist expertise can enhance the value of your business, contact Sensapure Flavors for a consultation.

About Sensapure Flavors:

Sensapure Flavors is a flavor house that services the nutrition and supplement industry with exciting flavor technology and unmatched applications experience. Born in a manufacturing company that understands the ever-changing needs of the nutraceutical industry, Sensapure combines new flavor technologies with deep product application experience.

Contact Us Today!

Sensapure Flavors

1945 S. Fremont Drive

Salt Lake City, UT 84104

801-456-4284

Sensapure Flavors

Research and Technology Development

545 West Lambert Road, Bldg. D

Brea, CA. 92821

657-341-2200

 

Achieving Cost-Effective World Class Flavor Creation

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Achieving Cost-Effective World Class Flavor Creation

Flavor creation is both art and science. While most in the industry recognize the number of variables involved in flavor creation. There are even more moving pieces when it comes to understanding a flavor budget.

Sensapure Flavor’s director of business development, Matt Doxey, says that misunderstanding flavor budget elements comes with a high price. “A lot of brands simply don’t know what a flavor should cost, and that can result in overpaying for a complete flavor system.” Doxey stresses that understanding a flavor’s budget is crucial to achieving cost-effective production. It demands high levels of trust and communication between flavor houses and brands.

Although achieving a cost-effective flavor system isn’t easy, it is always worth the effort. Let’s discuss the important variables of understanding cost effective flavors, the hidden cost of naturals, and how redefining mixology can often decrease flavor costs significantly.

Sensapure Flavor's Lab
Sensapure Flavor’s Lab

Understanding Flavor Creation and Budgets

There’s several components to consider when looking at a flavor budget: serving size, sweetener use, color use, natural vs. artificial ingredient/chemical use. As a general rule, natural flavors and sweeteners are more expensive. Serving size is relative to the quantity of product base (active ingredients) and what the base tastes like before flavoring. While red colors aren’t more costly than blues, the cost of colors can rise when utilizing natural colors.

The strength of active ingredients’ flavor in the product base is also a factor in the flavor budget. This is where the costs begin to vary the most among different flavor houses.

Five Flavor Ingredients or Fifty-five

Clients often have one or two words in mind when looking to flavor their product bases. “We want a ‘Fresh Berry’ flavor,” they say. Flavor chemists, on the other hand, have thousands of different chemicals in mind while creating a flavor. The words “Chocolate,” or “Blue Raspberry,” can result in a myriad of different formulations when consulting a flavor house. Like artists with blank canvases and a pallet of colors, possibilities are endless for flavor chemists with blank product bases.

Flavor chemists are trained to layer natural and/or artificial ingredients and chemicals to create complex and intriguing flavors. As the flavor system becomes more complicated, more chemicals are introduced, thus raising the cost of the final flavor. When you factor in aftertaste, texture, and mouthfeel, a flavor masterpiece is difficult to commercialize (too darned expensive). Often times, a brand will work through a dozen iterations of a flavor. After adding finishing touches, they’ll realize the added costs of those elements push the cost over the target budget.

Cost Effective Flavoring
Cost Effective Flavoring

The Hidden Costs of Naturals

Consumers are becoming more health conscious and demanding greater transparency in their food and supplement intakes. Brands are meeting customer’s needs by flavoring products with natural ingredients, natural sweeteners, and natural colors. Doxey says if there’s a hidden cost that brands come across when consulting with a flavor house, “It’s typically related to the rise in demand for naturals.” Replacing an artificial sweetener with a natural sweetener like Stevia or Monk Fruit brings up flavor cost. This is why brands and consumers pay premium for natural flavors or non-GMO labels on products.

Rise in demand for consumers and brand transparency is another reason flavor houses are getting away with raising costs. Standards for flavor costs within the industry are relative regardless. But up and coming trends in flavors and ingredients come with even more blurred lines. If brands are at risk of overpaying for an artificial fruit punch, the risk rapidly expands when it comes to an all natural coconut matcha flavor.

It’s important to understand that every flavor is unique. Some raw ingredients are more difficult to source than others due to location, availability, and rising prices of natural ingredients. Layered (multiple sensory) flavors or fringe flavors come with added costs no matter where flavors are made. But understanding a flavor budget minimizes risks of hidden costs in your final product.

Flavor Chemistry Lab
Flavor Chemistry Lab

Flavor Chemistry vs. Mixology

When looking to minimize the costs of a flavor, “mixology” and “flavor chemistry” must work hand-in-hand. Sensapure CEO, Jeff Reynolds said, “If flavor creation is both an art and a science, the balance and partnership between both functions is central in perfecting a cost-effective flavor system.” Mixology is a term used by lots of folks in lots of different ways. In product/applications development, this describes existing compounds (flavors, sweeteners, masking agents, active ingredients) “Mixing” to create new solutions.

Essentially, the mixology “toolbox” consists of the flavors and ingredients each brand, manufacturer or flavor house has on hand. With only mixology, flavor houses will “keep mixing” additional ingredients to achieve the goal, thus increasing final product cost. “Almost anyone can make something taste good for any amount of money,” Doxey says, “A lot of times people add more sweetener or more chemicals to cover up actives, which raises prices significantly.”

Flavor Chemistry

Utilizing flavor chemistry alongside mixology allows companies to simplify, minimize, and eliminate redundancies in the formulation. However, they can still create a flavor system that works well with actives such as caffeine and amino acids.

Doxey explains that mixology plus flavor chemistry is not about adding more to the flavor profile and thus increasing the budget. It’s about changing chemicals until the flavor profile is exactly right.

“The right combination of art (mixology) and science (flavor chemistry), can arrive at the specific formulation in order to enhance desired notes from the flavor while masking unwanted tastes of active ingredients,” said Reynolds. Doxey added, “Good flavor chemists are able to work with applications mixology to create a flavor with complexity while still meeting a clients needs economically.”

Flavor Forumlas
Flavor Forumlas

What To Consider in Flavor Creation

Each flavor house has a different viewpoint on how to meet the needs of their clients. However, not all have a good pulse of what a product should cost based on market parameters. It’s important to consider cost transparency within your contract and to work with a flavor partner who is upfront about costs from the beginning. Although some exotic and natural flavors can be costly, there shouldn’t be too many hidden costs throughout the process once when you identify the specific requirements and what you are looking for in your flavor profile.

While every company seeks to create cost-effective solutions, it’s critical to make sure that your flavor partner doesn’t sacrifice quality to cut costs. When properly designed, a great flavor doesn’t have to break the bank, and the amazing taste will have your customer coming back for more.

About Sensapure Flavors

Sensapure Flavors is a flavor house that services the nutrition and supplement industry with exciting flavor technology and unmatched applications experience. Born in a manufacturing company that understands the ever-changing needs of the nutraceutical industry, Sensapure combines new flavor technologies with deep product application experience.

Contact Us Today!

Sensapure Flavors
1945 S. Fremont Drive
Salt Lake City, UT 84104

801-456-4284

Sensapure Flavors
Research and Technology Development
545 West Lambert Road, Bldg. D
Brea, CA. 92821

657-341-2200

An Inside Look at a New Flavor Company

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An Inside Look at a New Flavor Company

“I knew that we would have people come, I just didn’t expect this crowd,” one of our Flavor Chemists, Mariano Gascon said as he looked around the room. “It’s amazing.” We had a great time partnering with Dyad Labs for our open house to highlight our new flavor company a few weeks ago. It rewarding for the whole team to see all of the hard work that went into building the new, renovated space. We filled the space with customers, potential customers and friends and families. We ate great food, gave tours of the new space, and told over 300 people what we’re passionate about creating.

Protein Taste Tests

Some of the highlights from the open house include the Dyad “Guess That Protein” activity. We had our visitors taste different types of protein like whey or soy. Then they had to attempt to identify which was which. We also had the “Sensapure Soda Bar.” Our flavor chemists created the perfect drink flavors for a self-mixing experiment. Last but not least, we had our Street Taco station from our favorite stand, El Paisa Grill. “It was all that we had planned it to be,” our founder and CEO, Jeff Reynolds said.

The new space represents a year of hard work, contracting, designing and coordinating to get it up and running. “It has been a long project,” said Reynolds “sometimes we thought it would never end.” Reynolds says now that the project is complete, they’re thrilled with the result and what they’ve accomplished since launching.

Our Building’s Purpose

The bright, transparent, new space is impressive. However, Reynolds’ intention for the building is about more than an upbeat and inspiring environment for the team. “We really wanted to build a customer experience here where our customers and potential customers can come and we can help them as a technology partner.”

This day wasn’t possible without those who attended, met our team and heard what we’re building together with customers. This new space will create opportunities to do what we love most, the art of creating flavors. We can’t wait to operate in this new space as we collaborate with our customers to bring their product bases to life with our flavors through the unique Sensapure development process.

Thank you to all of those who came and have helped us along the way to reach our goals. If you missed out, check out this short video we put together to remember some of highlights of the day.

– Your Sensapure team

Supply Side West 2018: Flavor Trends Take-aways

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Supply Side West 2018: Flavor Trends Take-aways

We worked with customers on their flavor systems while we learned from key industry experts. We toured the floor and got an inside look at upcoming flavor trends and patterns in the industry. Here are a few things we took away from Supply Side West 2018.

What’s New in Flavor Trends?

Pop Culture Co-branding / Nostalgia

Last year we saw flavor trends of Nostalgia. There was lots of co-branding through old-time favorites like candy flavors, breakfast cereals, and childhood memories like campfire s’mores. This year, nostalgia and co-branding prevailed with new twists on “look-alike” flavors and licensed co-branding deals. We saw flavors that remind us of our childhood, or confirm that we’ve never grown up. After many years of moms reminding us to drink leftover cereal milk, we’re seeing cereal flavored protein products.

Cross Cultural Blends

Tropical and exotic fruits have long been used to “spice up” product lines. And the blending of two different flavors to create a unique taste is also a staple of product development. So it was probably inevitable that these two flavor trends would ultimately connect. This “cross-cultural” blending can be seen in several examples such as “Dragonfruit White Tea” and “Limoncello Lychee.” Add into the equation any of the new international ingredient trends such as kombucha, matcha, açaí, et al. You can see the myriad of possibilities with cross cultural flavor experiences. Industry leaders think about ways these new trendy ingredients pair with interesting flavor systems to create unique customer experiences.

The Hemp Revolution

While the laws regarding cannabis are changing in states across the country, the unavoidable takeaway is asking what this means for the flavor industry as the core ingredients (CBD and THC) present new and unique challenges for an entire health category that has never existed before in the supplemental space. Walking around the show, it was impossible to not see the signs and banners advertising CBD and THC offerings. Add to that the hemp extracts workshops, suppliers, as well as data presented by Natural Products Insider estimating CBD and Hemp rising dramatically by 2022 calling it “The Hemp Revolution,” explaining that because the data is still being collected, it’s probably a far bigger market than we realize.

We had such a great experience at Supply Side West, 2018 and we are looking forward to utilizing the knowledge we gained to help our clients achieve their goals in all things flavors.

—Your Sensapure Team

New Lab Up and Running in SLC

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New Lab Up and Running in Salt Lake City

The new lab in our Salt Lake City location is making it easier for Sensapure clients to gather feedback on new products and flavor systems. Do you have a project that would benefit from a trial in the Sensory Lab? Give us a holler.

new sensory lab in salt lake city

Sensory Lab in Salt Lake City

flavor lab in salt lake city
Flavor Lab in Salt Lake City

1945 S. Fremont Drive
Salt Lake City, UT 84104

© 2018 Sensapure Flavors, All Rights Reserved

(801) 456-4284
[email protected]