5. Biotechnology and Flavors

Natural flavors are traditionally obtained by extracting raw materials, usually of plant origin. The technical and economic need to diversify the ways in which flavouring materials are obtained, together with advances in biotechnology, have led to the exploration and exploitation of the possibilities offered by the latter. The fact that substances produced by biotechnology can benefit from the natural label has been a determining factor in the interest aroused in recent years.

The complex flavors produced by micro-organisms during fermentative processes have long been exploited in a more or less empirical way, and it has been known for 25 years that certain strains are capable of synthesizing aromatic molecules, but it is only recently that the use of micro-organisms, plant cells or enzymes for the production of flavor compounds has been considered.