The World’s First AI-Created Flavor

Creation x Innovation

The latest step on our digital transformation journey marries the most fundamental elements of our DNA: Innovation & Creation for the benefit of enhanced formulation. Firmenich is proud to announce that we’ve created the world’s first flavor by algorithm, setting forth a new frontier in Augmented Creativity.

Our Creators are the heart of our business and relentless Innovation has been at our core for 125 years. Through AI Flavors, we are arming our Creators with the most advanced tools and technology to unleash imagination, speed accuracy & delivery and explore new boundaries of creation.

"AI Flavor creation can speed & enhance the creation process for our flavorists by providing an accurate formula skeleton starting point, from which we can create bespoke sensorial experiences faster than ever before."

The World’s First AI-Created Flavor

Firmenich’s goal was to create a flavor signature formula for a specified tonality with specific parameters, like 100% Natural ingredients and Price & Regulatory requirements. We inputted parameters of 100% natural beef taste, ideal for use in vegan-friendly alternative protein products.

The flavor was created using a rule-based formula generation model leveraging raw material usage statistics, spanning the entirety of Firmenich’s broad formulae databases. The result is the World’s first AI Flavor – A natural beef taste for use in plant-based meat analogs. The flavor capitalizes on Firmenich’s unique palette of ingredients with a delicious and complex meaty, fatty, long boiled and slightly grilled flavor profile.

Firmenich’s Chief Digital Officer, Eric Saracchi, describes the benefit, “AI Flavor creation can speed & enhance the creation process for our flavorists by providing an accurate formula skeleton starting point, from which we can create bespoke sensorial experiences faster than ever before.”

Firmenich Flavors President Emmanuel Butstraen adds, “The Covid-19 crisis showed us that we must speed our understanding and response to consumers’ rapidly-evolving needs even more quickly – from providing tastes which bring moments of comfort & delight to enhancing wellbeing through plant-based proteins, like beef and other flavors. This development will increase our speed to market and help us to serve Customers and Consumers with more agility.”

Looking Ahead

This is just the beginning of Firmenich Flavor’s digital creation journey. We are already in advanced testing with several new AI Flavors, from citrus, with orange and lemon and are progressing across all our core tonalities. We will continue to improve & perfect the current model to harness our Flavorists’ creativity and expand the scope of AI flavor creation to include sugar reduction and regulatory requirements.