Objective
This proposal will co-ordinate scientific understanding of sweet taste mechanisms and apply the knowledge to the optimisation of sweet taste quality in foods. It will operate by a series of research visits, workshops and symposia, co-ordinated by Partner 1, which will harness existing knowledge and research in 10 laboratories and utilise the fund of basic knowledge available from the European Chemoreception Research Organisation (ECRO). All of the participating laboratories are members of ECRO and each, therefore, is able to seek further 'friendly' support from ECRO if and when needed. The proposal also involves five interested industrial concerns from whom support, participation and commercial resources will be available for the proposal's long term objective which is to apply sweet taste optimisation technology to commercial food products. Although many products require intense sweeteners for specific formulations (e.g. Dietetic, diabetic and tooth-friendly foods), the sweetness quality must match the ideal quality of sucrose for full consumer acceptance. Thus, a prime objective of this proposal is the improvement of sweet taste quality through the application of knowledge involving the mechanistic understanding of the action of sweeteners. This knowledge is already available from the successful conclusion of the EC-AIR project CT94-2107 'The mechanistic understanding of the sweetness response'.
Achieving sweet taste optimisation will require the continued study of sweet tasting compounds available through chemical synthesis, with their potencies calculated by quantitative structure-activity relationships (Partners 1, 3 and 5), but initial behavioural understanding of these must be by non-human primates (Partner 4). Human sensory responses to optimised sweeteners in foods will be considered by Partners 6, 7, and 8 who will communicate with Partners 1 to 5 to achieve chemical mechanistic interpretation. Partners 1 and 2 are the only laboratories in the world with many years of on-going experience of the role of water in sweet taste mechanisms. This is central to the elucidation of sweet taste quality and provides a novel insight to the physiological studies of Partners 9 and 10 who will study the cloning of sweet receptors and transduction mechanisms of different types of sweetener. All studies in this proposal fall under the heading of EU priority 3.1 'Consumer nutrition and well being' and are of direct relevance to the five interested industrial concerns who need to apply the knowledge of sweet taste optimisation to a range of food products. The on-going research in the active laboratories, along with projected scientific visits by researchers, will therefore meet an important EU priority and the needs of industry.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology mammalogy primatology
- medical and health sciences health sciences nutrition
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
RG6 6AP Reading
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.