With a stated mission to develop, produce, and supply ingredients for food, pharmaceutical and personal care products in a safe and sustainable way, Sensient Technologies has earned a reputation for operating in a legal, ethical and responsible manner around the world. Sensient’s segments include Colors, Asia Pacific and Flavors & Extracts.
Sensient believes in transparency, where honesty and clear communication forms the basis of our interactions with our customers and employees. Our non-negotiable expectations of integrity and professionalism guide our innovative scientists, skilled technologists and experienced product developers in the application and formulation of natural flavors, extracts and colors as the backbone of our progress and continued growth. We have continuously proven to our customers that we are a reliable supplier with a comprehensive and innovative product portfolio.
Sensient prioritizes product safety and aims to sustainably source raw materials as part of our solutions process. Each year brings new challenges and circumstances, and we remain confident in our ability to assist customers with novel concepts and products that offer exceptional quality, optimize resources, and respect the environment.
Finally, our marketing insights empower customers to capture market share by accelerating product development with solutions tailored to consumer demand and market gaps.
Sensient Technologies
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
2024 Sales: $1.56 billion (approx)
Well-Prepared for Market Changes
Whether within the United States or across the globe, the dietary habits and flavor expectations of consumers are evolving. Consumers have become increasingly
Paul Manning, chair of the board, president and chief executive officer, Sensient TechnologiesCourtesy of Sensient
Sensient has a global team available to help our customers with these evolving preferences and complex formulation and application challenges.
For example, consumer preferences in the United States are shifting toward natural colors, aligning with a shift that has largely already happened within flavors. Sensient anticipated this potential shift toward natural colors more than a decade ago. This foresight enabled us to invest in R&D, supply chain solutions, and quality control procedures that prepared Sensient to be able to provide a full range of natural flavor and color solutions for the food and beverage markets today.
Another example of shifting consumer preferences is the increased popularity in high-protein diets. Sensient has the expertise to make protein more palatable using flavor masking and enhancing technologies to help food developers and manufacturers meet consumer dietary expectations without compromising on taste.
Advanced Technologies
Sensient Flavors & Extracts offers a wide arsenal of taste and mouthfeel technologies, including:
- TrueBoost™ – a portfolio of natural flavor enhancement products
- Smoothenol® – a line of flavor masking agents that can address a wide variety of issues such as bitterness, astringency, metallic notes, chalkiness, and sourness
- TenderSeal™ – a technology that can optimize moisture control and deliver a texture that consumers desire in meat and poultry
While we regularly improve our existing technologies, Sensient also works to understand new ways we can help customers apply these technologies in different products to reach new markets.
Sensient flavor scientists and application experts collaborate in our Innovation Labs across multiple regions to rapidly develop customized prototypes, leveraging advanced technologies to address our customers’ toughest challenges. Our goal is to simplify the process of formulation or reformulation at every step and stage.
An important trend in sensory science is a focus on multi-sensorial experiences. From finding that perfect characterizing flavor that can help new products stand out to our Sensates and SensaMelts™ product lines, which can help provide a multi-sensorial experience through mouthfeel and color, Sensient can assist customers in creating a more complete experience. Texture and multi-sensorial satisfaction extend into the beverage category as well, with the ability to add cloud emulsion or a foam head that goes beyond simple flavor to include visual, textural, and other sensorial experiences.
Ultimately, we want to help customers create products that appeal on multiple levels and exceed consumer expectations.
Challenges
There are a variety of challenges in formulating products designed to meet consumer expectations without compromising taste, especially with efforts to reduce sugar, salt or fat. All of these ingredients impact taste and texture, so successfully reducing their amounts in formulations requires consideration of function in addition to flavor. Each ingredient also influences mouthfeel in important ways.
Sensient anticipates that, with the ever-changing regulatory landscape and evolution of consumer preferences, more food and beverage manufacturers will begin to explore ways to reformulate to reduce sodium and sugar in their products. We are committed to collaborating with our customers in this effort to help prioritize consumer well-being.
With the food and beverage market becoming more saturated with product offerings than ever before, brands and operators must continue to lean into their product differentiators and stand out in the current “Sea of Sameness.” From our market insights to concepting and developing, Sensient excels at helping products stand out in a crowded market.
Thanks to our flavor enhancing and masking technologies, Sensient is prepared to help customers find the right formulation for their brands. Our flavor experts can also mimic processing conditions and test sample formulations to enhance speed to market.
Sourcing and Sustainability
Sensient’s sustainability strategy is built on five pillars:
- Decarbonization
- Water Stewardship
- Waste Reduction
- Sustainable Supply Chain
- Sustainable Product Design
Sensient’s sourcing practices fall under this umbrella, prioritizing the replenishment of the lands that supply the ingredients and technologies we depend on.
Environmental changes and various supply chain disruptions have created unique challenges to sourcing. In response, we are continuing to develop proactive programs for assessing risks, mitigating impacts, and sharing solutions that respect both the farms and the farmers.
Some of the newest products in development in response to sourcing issues include:
- Creating flavors through biotransformation
- Products and technology addressing ongoing crop disease, like citrus issues
- Introducing a Cocoa Booster in the EU and Latin America, called TrueBoost™ Cocoa
In addition to our continued innovation for addressing product gaps and sourcing challenges, Sensient has also instituted a sustainable design principles checklist for all innovation projects to ensure we minimize risks within the supply chain and optimize our resource use, including the resources required to source raw materials.
Consumer Trends that Influence Flavor Trends
Shifts in consumer beliefs and behaviors can help define direction for product development. Sensient proprietary research and industry monitoring help us guide customers through the product development decision-making process.
Generational preferences can influence purchasing motivations. For example, younger generations tend to want diverse flavors, more connection, an opportunity for adventure, total authenticity, a multi-sensorial experience and alcohol in moderation.
The desire for authenticity has wide-reaching implications, from extracts with true-to-source flavor profiles and clear claims to connecting to the story behind food and the field that it comes from. Today’s consumers want to align their purchases with their value systems.
Increasingly, consumers want to travel through taste with diverse food choices and connections to a food or beverage’s humble origins, whether those are regional specialties, out-of-the-ordinary exotic foods, or global cuisines that tap memories or spur future adventure.
Conclusion
Events and conditions over the past year have reinforced that Sensient continues to be a valuable partner in the industries we serve. Our ability to anticipate challenges and adequately align our product portfolio with evolving consumer preferences and regulatory demands only adds to our arsenal of tools and technologies in support of our customers.
