Bush Boake Allen India was acquired by International Flavours and Fragrances (IFF), the world's largest Flavours and Fragrances Company. It is today, the biggest flavours company in India, with a third of the market share. Chennaibest.com speaks to Arun Bewoor, Group Country Manager, IFF, about the flavours industry.

The flavours, fragrances and aroma chemicals industry worldwide is worth about $ 15 billion.

Flavours are products which are ingested and the big users of flavours are manufacturers of biscuits, bakeries, confectioneries, chewing gum, savoury products, snacks, aerated water, liquor and processed foods. Flavours impart a distinctive characteristic to the product. They develop a brand profile, and they differentiate between one brand and another. Why does one person drink A, and not B? Taste, flavour. Why does a person prefer a particular brand of biscuit? Flavour! We like to call ourselves the differentiator, the people who make the difference to the product and therefore the brand.

The technology in making flavours and fragrances is controlled by seven to eight major worldwide companies, who hold about 70% of the market share. Most of these companies are represented in India. The market is very competitive. There is a tremendous scope for development. But one has to be extra smart in the area of creation, applying that flavour or fragrance to the end product, and showing it to the customer to make a choice.

The flavour market is about Rs 225 to 230 crore. This is the total market in India, but putting down a figure to the region is difficult, because it depends on where is the manufacturer. The decision of buying could be made in Delhi, but it could be used in Chennai.

Raw material is sourced from all over the world and are also locally sourced. The proportion will be very close to 50-50 or 40-60. No country is self-sufficient in all the raw materials and so all the countries export and import. For example, India exports menthol, sandalwood oil etc, but it imports orange oil, lanoline etc. It depends on the climate, history, expertise etc.

This market is growing at about 7 to 9%. Prospects for growth depend on the processed food industry. Indians are very conservative eaters. Our food habits have not changed in the last millennium, but now convenience foods like snacks, ready-to-eat food, juices, aerated water are slowly making inroads. With this, the scope for the flavour industry is growing.

To create a trained flavourist takes about 6 to 7 years... may be longer. You understand and train a person's palette and tongue, thereby he/she can differentiate a large number of flavours or fragrance. He understands the chemicals and processes that make up the flavour profile and then he is trained to develop it. Basically it means bringing a large number of odiferous chemicals in proper proportions to give a flavour of the desired characteristic or profile. A typical flavour may contain between 30 to 80 items.

Which is the most preferred flavour?

Worldwide, Vanilla is the most widely used flavour; that we all know. Vanilla goes into almost everything, the reason being it has a flavour of its own and it boosts other flavours, but taste differs. Vanilla, strawberry, chocolate and butterscotch, these four flavours constitute 80% of the ice cream consumed in any part of the world.

Depends on the brief given by the customer. I want a lemon flavour for a sweet. We look at what is the sweet, what are the raw material and process conditions and develop a lime flavour compatible with the end product. There are different flavours for a sweet, for a soft drink, a chewing gum, a confectionery, cake, biscuit, ice cream etc. It's the same lime profile, but different ingredients go into it, depending on the end product.

We recruit food technologists from Central Food Technology Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore and University Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT), Mumbai.