Insights into the enhancement of food flavor perception: strategies, mechanism and emulsion applications

The core drivers of the modern food industry are meeting consumer demand for tasty and healthy foods. The application of food flavor perception enhancement can help to achieve the goals of salt- and sugar-reduction, without compromising the sensory quality of the original food, and this has attracted increasing research attention. The analysis of bibliometric results from 2002 to 2022 reveals that present flavor perception enhancement strategies (changing ingredient formulations, adding salt/sugar substitutes, emulsion delivery systems) are mainly carry out based on sweetness, saltiness and umami. Emulsion systems is becoming a novel research foci and development trends of international food flavor perception-enhancement research. The structured design of food emulsions, by using interface engineering technology, can effectively control, or enhance the release of flavor substances. Thus, this review systematically summarizes strategies, the application of emulsion systems and the mechanisms of action of food flavor perception-enhancement technologies, based on odor-taste cross-modal interaction (OTCMI), to provide insights into the further structural design and application of emulsion systems in this field.