February 2011

The UIC international team was informed that a major Umami lecture was delivered in the framework of the "2nd Annual Israeli Conference on Sensorial Evaluation" which was organized in the Avenue Conference Centre in Tel Aviv on January 16. Prior to this conference, Dr. Miro Smriga a scientific representative of the Umami Information Center, provided organizers with information on umami to update The audience was made of some 200 local food experts, scientists and media representatives. Among the few overseas invitees prominently figured the European taste researcher Dr. Jos Mojet, Principal Investigator Sensory & Consumer Research WUR at Wageningen UR.

The Umami lecturer, Mrs. Davidovitch herself, is a food technologist and an Israeli public opinion leader, engaged in consulting and project management in the food industry and retail in Israel. In her presentation, Mrs. Davidovitch started with description of physiological sensations triggered by umami compounds and umami taste signaling. Thereafter, she continued by reviewing the production process of modern seasonings, practical applications in food industry in past and present and finished with several topics related to safety of flavor enhancers.

Furthermore, as part of the global trend for reducing the amount of sodium intake (sodium reduction), Mrs. Davidovitch emphasized the potential use of umami compounds, including industrial monosodium glutamate, in the food formulations as alternative substitutes for salt. One examples presented was of a set of oriental sauces manufactured under an Israeli private label called Mega. This case was then followed by Mrs. Davidovitch with several other branding examples which have been launched successfully the umami concept by the Israeli food marketing.