15 Oct 2022 IFF debuts novel, industry-first citrus flavours for beverages
Global flavour giant, IFF has announced a breakthrough innovation: IFF NEO, a portfolio of natural flavours that deliver maximum citrus taste impact without using citrus oil, or any ingredient derived from the oil.
Featuring complete citrus flavours from orange, lemon, lime to grapefruit and mandarin, IFF NEO offers beverage manufacturers more stable supply, while reducing price volatility and environmental impact, assures IFF.
“IFF NEO reinforces IFF’s leadership position and expertise in citrus flavour development and ingredients,” said Marcus Pesch, global vice president for IFF’s RE-IMAGINE and RE-MASTER innovation programs.
“The essence of the brand is its name, short for ‘no essential oil’. These unique citrus flavour solutions are yet another way we’re innovating for our customers and make a great addition to our already extensive portfolio.”
Environmental pressures, disease and pests can substantially affect global citrus crop yields and fruit quality. This in turn, can impact the quality of citrus, create supply-side challenges and impact cost.
“We’re alleviating global citrus sourcing challenges, offering our customers great-tasting, natural flavours with citrus taste that are more readily available. Our game-changing supply stability also removes the price volatility commonly seen with citrus-derived products.”
Karel Coosemans, global leader for IFF’s RE-MASTER CITRU innovation program
The IFF NEO collection of natural citrus flavours is developed for beverage applications and works equally well in liquid and dry formulations.
Built using proprietary materials and technologies, IFF NEO citrus flavours are highly concentrated yet entirely free of citrus-derived molecules. Labelled as natural flavours, they are readily soluble in beverage applications and have greater stability than citrus-oil derived flavours, enabling a longer shelf life.
“As we developed IFF NEO, it was important not only to address the consumer desire for great taste and natural ingredients,” said Coosemans.
“We also wanted to make flavours with a smaller environmental impact by eliminating the need to depend on traditional citrus cultivation, processing and transportation, we’ve reduced resource usage and waste associated with citrus by-products.”
From the outset, IFF flavourists considered the regional differences in citrus tastes that exist around the world while developing IFF NEO.
Regional flavour creators made base collections, representing a variety of locally relevant citrus tastes, and were designed using leading local market preferences as benchmarks. These regional collections are the basis for customised IFF NEO flavour development in each market. IFF flavourists adjust taste profiles according to local customer application needs.
Application work in subsequent product categories is underway.
For more information about IFF NEO natural citrus flavour collection, click here.