The role of ingredient-flavour interactions in the development of fat-free foods

The increasing demand for healthy food has prompted all major food companies to develop food products low in fat. Unfortunately, in the absence of fat, altered flavour-ingredient interactions result in a dramatic change in the flavour of the product. Celebrated flavour cocktails can become worthless when administered to fat-free foods, and in many cases complete reformulation of the flavour cocktail is inevitable. A thorough understanding of flavour-ingredient interactions will provide the necessary information to select suitable fat replacers and to adapt a flavour cocktail optimally to the ingredients used in the newly developed product.