Patent Picks—Sweet and Savory

Patent Picks are compiled by the editors from publicly available sources. The present inventions relate to sweet and savory tastes.

Rebaudioside A to enhance sweetness
U.S. Patent 9060536
Publication date: June 23, 2015
Assignee: Givaudan, SA

The present applicant has found that certain known sweeteners, namely mogroside V/swingle extract, rubusoside/rubus extract and naringin dihydrochalcone (NarDHC), can be used in low concentrations near their sweetness detection threshold to enhance certain sweeteners. The sweeteners include: sucrose, fructose, glucose, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, xylose, arabinose, rhamnose, erythritol, xylitol, mannitol, sorbitol, inositol, acesulfame potassium, aspartame, neotame, sucralose, saccharine or combinations thereof. The sweetness enhancer may be selected from naringin dihydrochalcone, mogroside V, swingle extract, rubusoside, rubus extract, rebaudioside and stevioside. According to the inventor, none of these sweetness enhancers has been reported in the literature as previously used near its sweetness detection threshold, alone or in combination, to enhance the sweetness of the above-mentioned sweeteners.

Identifying umami and sweet taste stimuli
U.S. Patent 9091686
Publication date: July 28, 2015
Assignee: Senomyx, Inc.

Disclosed in this invention is an approach to identify and characterize sweet and umami taste receptors and compounds that modulate, i.e., enhance or block, them. The hetero-oligomeric and chimeric taste receptors utilized in the assay include T1R1/T1R3 and T1R2/T1R3. The invention further relates to cell lines that stably or transiently co-express combinations of T1R1 and T1R3; or T1R2 and T1R3; under constitutive or inducible conditions. The use of these cells lines also is provided, particularly high-throughput screening assays that detect receptor activity by use of fluorometric imaging.

High potency savory modifiers
U.S. Patent 9072313
Publication date: July 7, 2015
Assignee: Senomyx, Inc.

This patent relates to the use and large scale production of certain high potency savory/umami taste modifiers as flavoring agents and/or enhancers of monosodium glutamate. The applicants report the unexpected discovery that much like other known artificial flavorants, at higher concentrations, some compounds can have flavor differences as compared to MSG, such as mouth-watering side-tastes, a flavor “lingering," or in some cases, a perception of tongue tingling or numbness.

In general, producing the solid flavorant concentrates involve: a) one or more amide compounds: having a 5- or 6-membered aryl or heteroaryl ring; and wherein components are selected from hydroxyl, NH2, SH, halogen and a C1-4 organic radical; and include a 3 to 15 carbon atom with a branched alkyl, a cycloalkyl ring, or a heterocyclic ring (Editor's note: view the patent for more specific details); and b) dissolving said compounds or salts thereof to form a flavorant solution. Next, c) the flavorant solution is contacted with one or more carriers or a solution, dispersion or emulsion thereof to form an intermediate composition; and d) liquids are removed or maintained from the intermediate composition to form the final solid flavorant composition.

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