Advantages and Disadvantages of Flavor Enhancers
Flavor enhancers do not only have positive properties, many critics believe. Often it is the case that foods taste very uniform and somehow the same due to the use of flavor enhancers. Because food production mainly works through standardized products. Through standardized food production, costs can be saved and many customers now also expect that the food always tastes equally good. It can happen that the diversity of natural products is lost due to the use of flavor enhancers.
How Flavor Enhancers Work
The four taste directions sweet, sour, salty, and bitter are known by everyone. That there is also a fifth taste direction is less well-known, although this was already proven in Japan at the beginning of the 20th century. The fifth taste direction is called Umami and it is triggered among others by glutamates, which also count as flavor enhancers. Flavor enhancers thus act directly on the receptors of the taste buds. Glutamates are incidentally also natural components of foods and occur naturally in cheese, soy sauce or tomatoes. Often, glutamate is only associated with so-called Chinese Restaurant Syndrome, i.e., symptoms such as headaches, pressure behind the eyes, and stiff neck due to increased intake of artificial glutamates through food that can trigger allergic reactions in sensitive individuals.
Where Flavor Enhancers Are Used
Flavor enhancers can be found in almost any food. They are mainly found in ready-made foods such as instant soups, canned goods, soups, sauces, and sausages. Besides glutamic acid, potassium chloride is an often used food additive because it is used like salt. Potassium chloride is completely harmless. The use of flavor enhancers can certainly be viewed critically, as many flavor enhancers are artificial and can encourage eating more than one would normally do due to an intense taste experience, which can lead to overweight. Furthermore, it can lead within food production to processing inferior products because the taste can be adjusted or masked with flavor enhancers.