Batenburg, M.

Landrieu, E.

Smit, G.

Velden, R., van der

English

Name not available

Salt enhancement by aroma compounds

Wageningen Yield 

Expression of Multidisciplinary Flavour Science 
51 
SALT ENHANCEMENT BY AROMA COMPOUNDS  
 
 
M. BATENBURG, E. Landrieu, R. van der Velden, and G. Smit 
 
Unilever Food & Health Research Institute, Unilever R&D Vlaardingen, Olivier van 
Noortlaan 120, 3133 AT Vlaardingen, The Netherlands 
 
 
Abstract 
 
It is shown that multi-sensory interaction between aroma and taste can be employed 
to compensate the lower salt levels of healthy food products. The demonstrated 
saltiness enhancement by complex flavourings was unraveled by experiments with 
‘salt-congruent’ single compounds, using trained and naïve panels. Several savoury 
compounds, but especially sotolon (4,5-dimethyl-3-hydroxy-2(5H)-furanone), have a 
significant impact on perceived saltiness. As expected, a naive panel is more suitable 
to demonstrate multi-sensory interaction than a trained panel. The results were 
confirmed by consumer tests. A combination of KCl-based salt replacer and extra 
aroma was found to compensate approximately 30% sodium reduction without 
significant change of the flavour profile. 
 
Introduction 
 
High dietary sodium has been shown to cause hypertension and hence increase the 
risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. In fact there is even epidemiologic 
evidence of a direct correlation between stroke incidence and salt consumption (1). 
As 75% of sodium intake in industrialized countries is from processed and restaurant 
foods, the food industry is urged by national and international authorities to reduce 
sodium levels in their products. However, reduction of salt without affecting taste is a 
major challenge. Reducing the salt content in food products obviously leads to a loss 
of saltiness, but also to a decrease of overall flavour intensity. It is known that people 
can adapt to lower salt levels for instance in bread (2), but this approach will only 
work if it is done industry-wide in a concerted way, which is difficult to organise. Most 
approaches therefore are based on some kind of compensation, using salt replacers 
or salt boosters. These usually contain potassium chloride, which is definitely salty, 
but also bitter and metallic. Other minerals and specific amino acids may also be 
used in replacer mixes, but the salt reduction that can be compensated in savoury 
products like soups and sauces remains limited to approximately 15-20%.  
Besides the salt-contrast concept discussed in one of the oral presentations (3), a 
further compensation of the effects of low salt content might be derived from the 
exploitation of multi-sensory integration. As stated before salt functions as (savoury) 
flavour enhancer. It can be envisioned that this interaction is mutual, and that extra 
added aroma will not only restore the aroma attributes, but also the perceived 
saltiness. For sweet flavour the enhancing effect of taste on aroma, and vice versa, 
has clearly been shown (4-6). The interaction takes place at the cognitive level (7). 
Relatively few publications deal with salt-aroma interactions. Only one study reports 
an enhancement of saltiness by a ‘congruent’ aroma, namely that of soy sauce (8). 
The aroma here, however, is administered orthonasally, and findings can not easily 
be exploited in real-life food products. 
Expression of Multidisciplinary Flavour Science 
52 
The present work was aimed to show that the principle can be used in a very 
practical way: flavourings were selected that, when added to a salt-reduced bouillon 
or soup, could compensate the effects of the low salt level, without significantly 
changing the flavour profile of the product. In first instance the savoury flavourings 
used in the recipe were simply increased in level. The second part is a systematic 
study of the impact of various types of potentially congruent, savoury aroma 
compounds on perceived saltiness in the context of an industrial bouillon. The 
selection of the single compounds is based on the known key aroma composition of 
meat flavour, encompassing ‘brothy’, ‘meaty’, and ‘roasted’ notes. The aim of the 
study was to identify which of the mentioned flavour directions and compounds is 
most effective in saltiness boosting. 
Earlier studies indicated that the magnitude of multisensory interaction between 
taste and aroma varies between individuals, and especially trained panelists 
appeared insensitive and capable of separating aroma from basic taste (9). This 
indicates that cross-modal interactions to a large extent are not “hard-wired”, but 
rather based on learned associations, and hence can be unlearned by training. In line 
with this, instructions to panelists strongly influence the results obtained (10). For that 
reason products were evaluated with an untrained and a trained panel, as well as 
with naïve consumers.  
 
Experimental 
 
All aroma chemicals were from Aldrich, food-grade KCl and NH4Cl were from Merck 
and Riedel-de Haan respectively. Regular dry bouillon ingredients were from 
Unilever-Germany. Bouillons were prepared in advance and served at ~60°C in a 
50ml medicinal cup.  
The naïve panel (or ‘untrained panel’) was composed of ~12 untrained subjects. 
All panelists were tested on taste sensitivity, mainly focused on salt. Taste sessions 
took place in a sensory room with individual booths. The sessions were held once 
every two weeks in order to limit exposure and avoid training. Samples were served 
at 60 ºC, and attributes were scored on a 12-points scale using bouillons of two 
different salt levels as references. To reduce the dumping effect (a salt enhancement 
effect only due to the response bias), it was decided to score on two attributes: the 
“salt intensity” and the “overall flavour intensity”. Only salt intensity data are shown. 
The trained (descriptive) panel was composed of 10-12 external people and was 
selected and trained to characterise savoury products in terms of perceived attributes 
and intensities. The used Spectrum training procedure is an extension of the QDA 
descriptive analysis technique (standardised lexicon of terms, all scales standardised 
on the same basis and anchored with multiple reference points). Assessors scored 
the products in booths in a comparative way, per attribute instead of per product to 
increase sensitivity. 
In the consumer study (with up to 60 subjects) individuals were subjected to either 
a 2-AFC test, simply answering the question ‘which of the two samples is most salty’, 
or a ‘multi-attribute-scale’ test. The latter paired-comparison test avoids dumping 
effect by using a 2-step approach and open questions rather than forced choice. First 
it was asked if any difference is tasted, and if the answer was yes, individuals were 
asked in step 2 whether a difference was tasted on 6 attributes (bitter, sweet, salt, 
sour, aroma, and thickness) and if so, which sample was most intense on the 
attribute in question. 
 
Expression of Multidisciplinary Flavour Science 
53 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 1. Sensory effect of salt reduction in beef bouillon, and subsequent 
compensation by extra aroma. 
 
Results  
 
Figure 1 clearly shows the flavour enhancing effect of sodium chloride in beef 
bouillon in a descriptive panel. Upon reduction of the sodium level with 30% not only 
the perceived saltiness is reduced, but in fact the rating on most other attributes is 
lowered as well, also on those primarily related to aroma, like ‘beef’, ‘fenugreek’, etc. 
Reduction of salt apparently leads to a bland, tasteless product. It is shown that the 
flavour profile could indeed be partially restored by addition of extra flavouring. For 
most of the attributes, about half of the flavour loss is compensated. Most remarkably 
this also holds for attribute ‘salty’. This effect was solely due to the aroma, since we 
made sure that the salt added via the flavouring was compensated.  
Higher levels of aroma did not add to the compensation, and instead led to 
unbalance in the flavour profile. Combining the extra flavour with a mixture of 
potassium- and ammonium chloride, however, a close match of the original flavour 
profile could be obtained. Compensation on the basis of solely these minerals at 
higher levels led to improved saltiness, but also to a bitter off-note not perceived in 
the combination with flavour. Similar results were obtained with chicken bouillon and 
various types of dry soups (data not shown). Generalizing it can be stated that about 
15% sodium reduction can be compensated by extra aroma without significant 
change of the flavour profile, and 30% in combination with KCl-based salt replacers 
(not shown).   
For further unraveling of the effect of these cross-modal interactions in terms of 
key enhancing compounds, we have made use of three categories of subjects: 
untrained panellists, trained panellists and naïve consumers. A commercial chicken 
bouillon was used for these studies. Using the naïve panellists we found that several 
‘congruent’ single compounds significantly enhanced salt perception. ‘Seasoning’ or 
‘brothy’ compounds, esp. sotolon (4,5-dimethyl-3-hydroxy-2(5H)-furanone), had the 
largest impact (Figure 2). Significant salt enhancement was also found for several 
sulphur-containing ‘meaty’ and ‘roasted’ components. The trained panel did not 
demonstrate a statistically significant effect on saltiness, in line with its analytical way 
of tasting and due to its training, which leads to unlearning of the associations on 
which multi-sensory interactions are based (10).  
 
 
Balance
Fulness
Beef Fat
Beef boiled & roasted
Serumy
Roasted grain
Fenugreek
Caramelised Sugar
Onion boiled and roasted
Nutmeg
Fatty mouthfeel 
Salivating 
Malty  
Sour 
Umami 
Salty 
100% NaCl  
70% NaCl 
70% NaCl + 
compensation 
 0 
Expression of Multidisciplinary Flavour Science 
54 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 2. Saltiness enhancement in 30% salt-reduced bouillon by increasing doses 
(10, 20, and 30 ppb) of sotolon, assessed by the untrained panel. The 
letters refer to significance of differences (p< 0.05). 
 
When tested with naive consumers (data not shown) the effect of single aroma 
compounds could only be noticed when subjects were focused on saltiness 
perception by means of a 2-AFC forced comparison test. This approach bears the 
risk that any difference, e.g. in flavour intensity, is dumped on the single attribute 
‘saltiness’, and cannot be used as conclusive evidence for saltiness enhancement. 
For a complex flavouring, in contrast, saltiness enhancement could be demonstrated 
in a convincing way using open questions, hence not biased by a ‘dumping’ effect. 
The difference in perceived saltiness here was clearly significant.  
The data provided show that indeed aroma-taste multi-sensory interaction can be 
employed to compensate salt reductions. Further analysis showed that several 
classes of potentially congruent aroma compounds, giving ‘brothy’, ‘meaty’ and 
‘roasted notes’, contribute to the salt enhancement effect. In line with earlier studies 
of multi-sensory interactions the set-up of the sensory experiments (trained vs. naïve 
panel, forced choice vs. open questions) determines to a large extent the results. 
Trained descriptive panels, due to their analytical way of tasting, are not very suitable 
instruments to assess multimodal interaction, but can be used to check for undesired 
changes in the flavour pattern. 
 
References  
 
1. Perry I.J., Beevers, D.G. (1992) J. Human Hypertension 6: 23-25. 
2. Girgis S., Neal B., Prescott J., Prendergast J., Dumbrell S., Turner C., Woodward M. 
(2003) Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 57: 616-20. 
3. Busch J., Knoop J., Tournier C., Smit G. (2009) In Proceedings of the 12th Weurman 
Flavour Research Symposium, Interlaken, Switzerland (I. Blank, M. Wüst, C. Yeretzian, 
eds.), pp 47-50. 
4. Noble A.C. (1996) Trends Food Sci. Technol. 7: 439-44. 
5. Stevenson R.J., Prescott J., Boakes R.A. (1999) Chem. Senses 24: 627-35. 
6. Prescott J., Johnstone V., Francis J. (2004) Chem. Senses 29: 331-40. 
7. Davidson J.M., Linforth R.S., Hollowood T.A., Taylor A.J. (1999) J. Agric. Food Chem. 
47: 4336-40. 
8. Djordjevic R., Zatorre R.J., Jones-Gotman M. (2004) Chem. Senses 29: 199-206. 
9. Hort J, Hollowood T.A. (2004) J. Agric. Food Chem. 52: 4834-4843. 
10. Frank R.A., van der Klaauw N.J., Schifferstein H.N. (1993) Percept. Psychophys. 54: 
343-354. 
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Salt enhancement by aroma compounds

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