I’m a flavour expert and food scientist with 10+ years’ experience helping food & drink brands create products that taste as good as they promise.
In this podcast, I share how to Create clean-label, planted-based and allergen-free launch-ready products, Choose the right flavour direction, and Fix underperforming products.
No jargon, no off-the-shelf solutions, just food science, flavour strategy, and expert insight to make flavour your competitive advantage.
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#3: How to Get Your Vitamins and Minerals Claims Right
Monday, September 1, 2025 • Duration 10:55
You’ve developed a product. You want to say it’s a "Source of Vitamin C" or "Vitamin C contribute to the normal function of the immune system". But the legislation around nutrition and health claims is a minefield⚠️ — and messing it up can get you in serious trouble.
If you're adding vitamins or minerals to your product, there's a right way to make a claim… and a wrong way that could land you with misleading labelling and compliance issues. 🧾
In this episode of The Food Lab Podcast, I walk you through:
✅ The only forms of vitamins and minerals allowed in your recipes
✅ How to calculate the right quantity of vitamin or mineral for nutrition & health claims
✅ Real-life examples
✅ The labelling requirements (yep, it’s not optional)
✅ Why shelf-life testing and overages are key to staying compliant
Don’t forget to follow the podcast so you never miss an episode — and if you enjoyed this one, leave a positive review and a comment on Spotify. It really helps more food and drink founders discover the show!
🍪 Struggling with product development challenges? As a food and drink consultant with over a decade of industry experience, I help Food and Drink businesses perfect their flavour profiles, streamline product development, and unlock the path to retailer listings.
📃 Discover my Food Legislation Audit services and get in touch to discuss how we can transform your products and boost those customer reviews.
👋 Let’s stay connected! Join our community over on Instagramand LinkedInfor behind-the-scenes tips, updates, and flavour inspiration.
#2: Mastering Nutrition & Health Claims: What Can You Really Claim?
Monday, August 4, 2025 • Duration 28:30
Thinking of adding lion's mane, ashwagandha, turmeric or ginseng to your product? ✨ Great! But what can you actually say about their benefits on your label without breaking food law? 📜⚖️
In this episode of the Food Lab Podcast, I kick off a new series all about nutrition & health claims. From "high in protein" to the grey zone of "on hold" claims 🕵️♀️, I unpack what's allowed, where to find the right information, and how to avoid misleading your customers.
💡 Perfect for food & drink brands looking to stand out—ethically and legally. 💬
Don’t forget to follow the podcast so you never miss an episode — and if you enjoyed this one, leave a positive review and a comment on . It really helps more food and drink founders discover the show!
#1: The Most Common Flavour Mistakes When Developing a F&D Product
Monday, July 7, 2025 • Duration 14:57
🎙️In this first episode of The Food Lab, I dive into one of the most common — and costly — mistakes food and drink brands make: choosing the wrong flavours. ❌🍓🍫
From misunderstood “safe bets” like vanilla and strawberry to the importance of working with your product base rather than against it, this episode is packed with practical insights 🔎 to help you:
✅ Improve your product’s flavour profile 🎯 Connect with your target audience 🛠️ Avoid development pitfalls.
Don’t forget to follow the podcast so you never miss an episode — and if you enjoyed this one, leave a positive review and a comment on Spotify. It really helps more food and drink founders discover the show!
🍪 Struggling with product development challenges? As a food and drink consultant with over a decade of industry experience, I help Food and Drink businesses perfect their flavour profiles, streamline product development, and unlock the path to retailer listings.
📬 Get practical tips in your inbox! Sign up for my free bi-weekly newsletter on food & drink product development
👋 Let’s stay connected!Join our community over on and for behind-the-scenes tips, updates, and flavour inspiration.
Introducing The Food Lab: Helping You Build Better Food & Drink Products
Monday, June 30, 2025 • Duration 12:30
🎙️ In this intro episode of The Food Lab, I share my story, what inspired me to launch EPICSI, and what you can expect from this podcast series.
From working in a flavour house 🍓 to supporting product development at major UK brands 🍪, I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the bland. I'm here to help food and drink founders create products that truly taste good, do good, and connect with their audience 💡🌍.
👉 Tune in to hear how I got into food science, what drives me, and how this podcast can help you perfect your products.
📬 Get practical tips in your inbox! Sign up for my free bi-weekly newsletter on food & drink product development
👋 Let’s stay connected! Join our community over on Instagram and LinkedIn for behind-the-scenes tips, updates, and flavour inspiration.
#4: Why Your Food or Drink Product Isn't Selling – It’s Not Just the Flavouring
Monday, October 6, 2025 • Duration 19:29
Ever wondered why your launches show up on the shelf... but sales don’t follow? Negative reviews piling up? It might not be the flavouring that’s wrong — it’s the product base.
In this episode of The Food Lab Podcast, I’m diving into why your product might taste “not quite right” — and how fat, sweetness, saltiness & acidity shape flavour perception.
🎙️ What’s covered in this episode:
Why discounting base ingredients leads to flat and muted flavours
How overloading with fat, sweetness, saltiness or acidity can actually kill flavour profiles
Real stories from low‑sugar and non‑HFSS reformulations at a flavour house and big UK brands
The step‑by‑step process I follow
💡 Taste Insight: More flavour ≠ better flavour
Too much fat, sweetness, saltiness or acidity can delay flavour release and overpower flavour characteristics.
It’s seems counterintuitive — but true: Flavours only shine when the base is locked in first.
If this hit home, don’t forget to follow the podcast, leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review, and share it with a fellow foodpreneur. It helps other food/drink founders discover the show! 🙏
🍪 Struggling with product development challenges? As a food and drink consultant with over a decade of industry experience, I help Food and Drink businesses perfect their flavour profiles, streamline product development, and unlock the path to retailer listings.
You've spent weeks perfecting your lab sample. The flavour profile is spot-on, the balance is beautiful, everyone loves it.
Then you get the scaled-up version from your co-manufacturer and... it's completely different. Too sweet. Flavours have disappeared. The whole thing feels off.
Sound familiar?
I've been there more times than I can count, and honestly, it's one of the most frustrating parts of food product development.
If you're a food and drink brand working with a contract manufacturer or doing the production in-house, this episode will save you time, money, and a lot of stress.
Understanding why scaling up changes everything and how to plan for it is crucial for any FMCG.
Your lab sample isn't just a recipe you can copy-paste at scale. It's a delicate equilibrium. And when you disrupt that balance through different equipment, processes, and ingredient interactions, your flavour profile changes too.
In this episode, we'll cover:
Why your scaled product never tastes exactly like your lab sample (it's normal!)
How sweetness, flavouring, and base ingredients shift during scale-up
Why you can't just "decrease the sweetness" without consequences
How to plan for testing and tweaking
Practical tips to minimize surprises and protect your budget
Don't panic, plan ahead instead.
💌 Want to dive deeper?
Read the full .
23 November - How Ingredients Change Your Flavour Profile
Ever wondered why your flavouring tastes completely different in one recipe versus another? You're using the same amount, the same brand but somehow it just doesn't work the same way.
If you're a food and drink brand developing products and struggling to get your flavour profile right, this episode will be a game-changer.
If you are doing product development in-house, understanding how your ingredients affect flavouring is absolutely essential.
Your recipe isn't just a list of ingredients. It's an equilibrium. And tiny changes in moisture, fat, sweetness, or saltiness completely transform how your flavours come through and how your consumers experience them.
In this episode, we'll cover:
Why dry products trap flavours (and what to do about it)
How fat delays flavour release — and why chocolate needs to melt slowly
The shocking impact of sweetness and saltiness on flavour intensity
Liquid vs. solid products: completely different tasting experiences
How to think about your recipe as a balanced system
Stop guessing. Start understanding your product from the inside out.
Think using a lemon extract or cucumber essence will make your product taste natural? You couldn't be more wrong.
This is one of the biggest mistakes I see food and drink brands make - they assume extracts and essences are the holy grail of flavourings because they're "natural."
But here's the truth: even the most natural flavourings can taste fake, artificial, cardboardy, or chemical in your product.
In this episode, I'm bursting a massive myth about extracts and essences.
For instance, a lemon extract will never taste like actual lemon juice or lemon zest. And once you add it to your product? There's no guarantee it'll taste anything like the real fruit after all the ingredient interactions, processing, and shelf life.
Plus, there's zero scientific evidence that non-natural flavourings damage your health, but extracts and essences? They absolutely damage the planet.
If you're choosing extracts just for marketing reasons to look "natural" on pack, but your product tastes rubbish - it's time to rethink your strategy.
Focus on making your product taste great first. Because repeat purchases come through taste and flavours, not through what looks good on your packaging.
📩 and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster.
13 November - How to Choose a Co-Manufacturer: 6 Questions Every Food Brand Must Ask Before Signing
Choosing a co-manufacturer for your food or drink product?
Wait before you sign anything, you need to ask these questions or you'll regret it later.
I've seen too many food and drink brands make expensive mistakes because they didn't know what to ask upfront.
In this episode, I'm sharing the six critical things you need to know before selecting a contract manufacturer.
First up: who actually owns the intellectual property of your recipe? I had a client who realized way too late that their recipe didn't belong to them anymore, sounds completely bonkers, right? But it happens more than you think.
I'll also walk you through the other essential questions: Can you use your own suppliers, or are you locked into theirs? What are the MOQs and do you have to pay upfront? How long are the lead times when they're busy with other clients? Can they stock your product in-house, or will you end up with pallets in your garage like one of my customers did? And finally, do they handle distribution to retailers, or is that on you too?
If you're a food or drink brand looking to scale up and work with a co-manufacturer, these questions will save you from nasty surprises and costly mistakes down the line.
Don't jump into manufacturing just because you want to get into retail, think it through first.
Are your product tastings a complete waste of time?
If your team's drinking coffee right before, not cleansing palates between samples, or saying ""I like it"" instead of actually describing what they're tasting - you're doing it wrong.
In this episode, I'm sharing six rules that will transform your tastings from useless guessing games into proper product development tools.
You'll learn why you should never hold tastings after lunch, how your personal sensitivity to liquorice or bitterness is messing with your feedback, and why cream crackers are your best friend.
I'll also share the story of a client who doesn't even like the product we developed together - but their consumers? They're giving it 4.9 out of 5 stars and the sales are through the roof!
Because here's the truth: the product isn't designed for you, it's designed for your target consumers.
Whether you're a food or drink brand doing internal tastings or working with a product development team, these six rules will help you stay objective, understand your palate, and build descriptions gradually so you actually get useful insights instead of just opinions.
Stop wasting time and batches and start doing tastings properly.
📩 and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster.
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🍪 Struggling with product development challenges? As a food and drink consultant with over a decade of industry experience, I help Food and Drink businesses perfect their flavour profiles, streamline product development, and unlock the path to retailer listings.
📃 Discover my Food Legislation Audit services and get in touch to discuss how we can transform your products and boost those customer reviews.
If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy.
👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry.
In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing.
Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy.
If you enjoy this podcast, leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, it really help developing the podcast, and share with a fellow food or drink founder that will benefit from it! 🙏
If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy.
👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry.
In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing.
Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy.
If you enjoy this podcast, leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, it really help developing the podcast, and share with a fellow food or drink founder that will benefit from it! 🙏
Get my free newsletter
If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy.
👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry.
In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing.
Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy.
If this podcast hits home, don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and share it with a fellow food or drink founder! 🙏
📩 Get my free newsletter and join hundreds of founders and brand teams learning how to make their food & drink products taste better, scale smoother, and sell faster.
If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy.
👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry.
In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing.
Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy.
If this podcast hits home, don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify or Apple Podcast, and share it with a fellow food or drink founder! 🙏
Get my free newsletter
If you want to design food or drink products that taste perfect for your consumers, hit those repeat purchases, and see your sales go through the roof — there’s no luck or miracle involved. You need a flavour strategy.
👋 Hi, I am Manon Galizzi, a food scientist and flavour expert with over 10 years in the food industry.
In each episode, I share what I’ve learned from helping food and drink brands create new products from scratch, choose the right flavour direction, or fix products that just aren’t performing.
Because flavour isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the number one reason people buy.
