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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/taste-modulation-and-sweetness-enhancement-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Flavors & FragrancesTaste Modulation and Sweetness Enhancement Patents
- 68.8% concentration. The top 5 assignees account for 247 of the 359 records in scope, with a long tail of single- and double-filing entrants below them.
- Filing has cooled from its 2019 peak. Activity peaked at 65 records in 2019; from 2021 (33) to 2024 (15) filings fell 55%, the most recent span the data can support as complete.
- A23L dominates the class map. 85.2% of records touch foods and non-alcoholic beverages (A23L), while adjacent classes like C07H sugars (6.1%) and A21D baking (6.4%) stay comparatively thin.
359
Published Records
69%
Top-5 Share of All Records
-55%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (33 records) with 2024 (15) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 359 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··6 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Field Overview
What this landscape covers
Taste modulation and sweetness enhancement patents cluster around a narrow set of engineering problems: masking bitterness in high-intensity sweeteners, screening taste receptors, cutting sugar content without losing mouthfeel, and clearing regulatory approval for novel sweetener blends. The 359 records in this dataset span filings from 2015 through mid-2026, with the earliest complete filing years showing a sharp run-up followed by a pullback that the evidence supports only through 2024.
Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in and should not be read as a decline in real filing activity — only as a gap in what has published so far.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2015–2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Taste Modulation and Sweetness Enhancement covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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The Numbers
Filing trend and technology mix
Two views of the same 359 records: how filings moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings rose from 16 in 2017 to a peak of 65 in 2019, then eased; the 2021-to-2024 span shows a 55% drop (33 to 15), the last window the data can treat as complete given publication lag.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
A23L (foods and non-alcoholic beverages) touches 85.2% of the 359 records, far ahead of A23G confectionery (14.8%) and A61K medicinal preparations (10.6%); because records carry multiple classes, these shares sum past 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 359 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Taste Modulation and Sweetness Enhancement covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
Go deeper on Taste Modulation and Sweetness Enhancement with Eureka
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Try EurekaCited Prior Art
Most-cited records in the field
Representative Filing
Sweetness Enhancer — PepsiCo, Inc. (US20170245537A1, 2017-08-31)
PEPSICO, INC.
The present disclosure provides sweetener compositions, methods of using these compositions, and foods, beverages, and syrups comprising these compositions. The sweetener composition can comprise a sweetener and a sweetness enhancer. The composition can further comprise at least one supplemental sweetness enhancer and/or a salt.Filed by PepsiCo, Inc. and published 2017-08-31; abstract shown as filed.
Highest-citation families
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20140342043A1 | Rebaudioside Sweetener Compositions and Food Products Sweetened with Same | 116 |
| 2 | WO2014186250A1 | Rebaudioside sweetener compositions and food products sweetened with same | 94 |
| 3 | US20140342044A1 | Compositions and Comestibles | 81 |
| 4 | WO2014186084A1 | Compositions and comestibles | 77 |
| 5 | US20130136839A1 | Taste-Masking Compositions, Sweetener Compositions and Consumable Product Compositions Containing the Same | 49 |
| 6 | JP2010507376A | 消費材 | 43 |
| 7 | US20090029020A1 | Cyclodextrin inclusion complexes and methods of preparing same | 40 |
| 8 | US20190343155A1 | Sweetener and flavor compositions, methods of making and methods of use thereof | 39 |
| 9 | US20140004244A1 | Taste-Masking Compositions, Sweetener Compositions and Consumable Product Compositions Containing the Same | 39 |
| 10 | US20090227690A1 | Cyclodextrin Inclusion Complexes and Methods of Preparing Same | 34 |
Citation counts favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations within this corpus — read them as a signal of influence, not of current commercial relevance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Taste Modulation and Sweetness Enhancement covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the data indicates
Three signals worth weighing before scoping freedom-to-operate work or a new filing strategy in this space.
Concentration
68.8%
of 359 records held by top 5
Filing sits with a small group of repeat filers
The top 5 assignees combine for 247 of the 359 records in scope — 68.8% — while the top 10 reach 87.7% (315 records). Below that, filing thins quickly into single- and double-record entrants.
Assignee ranking, 42 companies
Momentum
-55%
2021 (33) to 2024 (15)
Growth has cooled from the 2019 peak
After peaking at 65 records in 2019, filings fell from 33 in 2021 to 15 in 2024 — a 55% drop across the last span the data can treat as complete. Recent-year totals for individual leaders show flat or zero filings in the latest year, consistent with the broader slowdown.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Class Spread
85.2%
of records touch A23L
Claim density sits heavily in food & beverage formulation
A23L (foods and non-alcoholic beverages) appears in 85.2% of the 359 records, dwarfing A23G confectionery (14.8%) and A61K medicinal preparations (10.6%). Sugars and nucleic acids (C07H, 6.1%) and baking (A21D, 6.4%) remain comparatively open by comparison.
IPC composition, 8 subclasses shown
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Co-filing is rare but concentrated
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| EPC (Beijing) Natural Products Co., Ltd. | SHI WEIYAO | 37 |
| Amai Proteins Ltd. | Technology Research and Development Fund Ltd. | 6 |
| EPC (Beijing) Natural Products Co., Ltd. | SWEET GREEN FIELDS USA LLC | 5 |
| EPC (Beijing) Natural Products Co., Ltd. | Sweet Green Fields International Ltd. | 5 |
| EPC (Beijing) Natural Products Co., Ltd. | SHI WELYAO | 2 |
| Cargill, Incorporated | STRASSBURGER KENNETH J | 2 |
| EPC (Beijing) Natural Products Co., Ltd. | WEIYAO SHI | 1 |
| Cargill, Incorporated | STRASSBURGER KENNETH | 1 |
Only 9 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset; the strongest pairing recorded 37 shared records, suggesting most work here happens inside single organisations rather than through joint filing.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Taste Modulation and Sweetness Enhancement covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Competitive Set
Who is filing, and where the field is thinning out
The leader board is short and top-heavy; most of the 42 ranked companies hold only a handful of records each.
Leader
82
records
A single filer holds the largest share
The top-ranked assignee holds 82 records, well ahead of the fifth-place company at 32 and the tenth-place company at 7 — a steep drop-off that marks this as a leader-and-long-tail field rather than an even spread.
Assignee ranking, 42 companies
Receiving Offices
96
US filings
US and EPO carry most of the filing volume
The United States leads receiving offices with 96 filings, followed by Europe (EPO) at 61 and WIPO/PCT at 48. Australia, India and Canada each sit in the twenties, marking secondary but active jurisdictions.
Receiving offices, 6 shown
Co-filing
9
co-assignee pairs
Joint filing is the exception, not the norm
Only 9 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset. The strongest pairing reaches 37 shared records, but most companies file independently rather than through joint ventures or shared IP arrangements.
Co-assignee pairs, strongest shown
Recent-year filing momentum by leading assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| EPC (Beijing) Natural Products Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| PepsiCo, Inc. (USA) | 0 | -100% |
| SHI WEIYAO | 0 | — |
| Cargill, Incorporated | 0 | — |
| Amai Proteins Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Givaudan SA | 0 | — |
| Firmenich SA | 0 | — |
| Societe des Produits Nestle S.A. | 0 | -100% |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Taste Modulation and Sweetness Enhancement covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Next Steps
Where to take this analysis
The record-level data behind this summary supports more targeted work than a single landscape page can show.
Screen a specific claim before filing
Run a freedom-to-operate check against the highest-citation families in this set before committing claim language in bitterness-masking or receptor-screening compositions.
Screen claims in Eureka →Track the leaders' recent filings
Recent-year momentum for the top assignees has flattened; a standing watch will surface the next filing wave before it publishes broadly.
Set up assignee tracking in Eureka →Map the white space in detail
The under-claimed branches flagged here are a starting point, not a full clearance search — pull the full class-by-class breakdown before scoping new work.
Explore white space in Eureka →Source: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Taste Modulation and Sweetness Enhancement covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Common Questions
Frequently asked questions
The leader in this dataset holds 82 of the 359 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-ranked company at 32. Filing concentration is steep: the top 5 assignees together account for 68.8% of all records, and the top 10 reach 87.7%. Below that point, the remaining companies in the 42-strong ranked list hold only a handful of records each, so most competitive risk sits with a small group of repeat filers rather than a broad field of players.
Filings peaked at 65 records in 2019 and have since declined, with the 2021-to-2024 span showing a 55% drop from 33 to 15 records. That is the most recent period the data can treat as reliably complete, because publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in. Read the recent cooling as a real signal from the last complete years, not as evidence that the field has stopped moving altogether.
A23L, covering foods and non-alcoholic beverages, appears in 85.2% of the 359 records in scope, making it by far the densest claim area. A23G confectionery (14.8%) and A61K medicinal preparations (10.6%) follow at a distance. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these percentages add up to more than 100%, and lower-density classes like C07H sugars (6.1%) and A21D baking (6.4%) are where claim space is comparatively less occupied.
US20170245537A1, filed by PepsiCo, Inc. and published 2017-08-31, describes sweetener compositions combining a sweetener with a sweetness enhancer, and optionally a supplemental sweetness enhancer or a salt, for use in foods, beverages and syrups. It sits within the broader cluster of highly-cited rebaudioside and taste-masking families in this dataset. Anyone formulating a multi-component sweetener system with a base sweetener plus an enhancer should review this filing's claim scope directly rather than relying on the abstract alone.
The dataset shows comparatively thin claim density in sugar and nucleic-acid derivative sweeteners (C07H, 6.1% of records), baking-specific sugar reduction (A21D, 6.4%), and dairy-matrix bitterness masking within A23C (8.1%). These sit well below the dominant A23L cluster at 85.2%. That does not guarantee an area is unclaimed everywhere, but it does mark where filing density is lower relative to the rest of the field, which is a reasonable starting point for a more detailed clearance search.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Taste Modulation and Sweetness Enhancement covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company's registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.