Improving the Flavour Acceptability of Reduced‐fat Foods

The perceived need to reduce dietary fat consumption has produced intense activity throughout the food industry. Previous exploratory work has indicated that flavour characteristics can influence consumer enjoyment of foods, and reducing the fat content of foods can adversely affect flavour characteristics in comparison with those of full‐fat equivalents. However, there is little work reported in this area in the scientific literature. The Leatherhead Food RA and the Institute of Food Research, Reading, are therefore collaborating on a MAFF‐LINK project with ten industrial partners on improving the flavour acceptability of reduced‐fat foods. The project aims to quantify and model the relationship between fat content and the perceived flavour and flavour‐release characteristics of processed foods and to provide guidance to the industrial partners in developing reduced‐fat foods with improved flavour characteristics.