The analysis is done by New-Food Innovation, a high-tech food company. Once analysed the virtual flavours are created to accurately match the real flavour using UK Food Standards Agency approved food-safe chemicals.

The analyses/ investigations are all part of Professor Chalmers’ research, together with West Midlands company Superlunary Labs, into how people perceive taste and smell.

He is also investigating whether a poor performance on the new ‘taste test’ that he has developed, may be an early warning signs for diseases including dementia. This could lead to a much earlier diagnosis of diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease, well before any memory loss starts to occur.

Professor Chalmers describes the flavour making process as the same as using a recipe – by accurately simulating the different components of a flavour, food such as marmite can be replicated with a taste indistinguishable from the real thing.

He commented: “We recreated the health drink rooibos tea and even the chief taster of a rooibos manufacturer in South Africa could not distinguish between the real and virtual rooibos. 

“I first thought of creating the samples of marmite and vegemite for a bit of fun during the Ashes cricket tests this summer as people kept asking - what is the difference between them?

“It goes back to the serious work we’re doing which shows that people’s taste and smell can give us clues what’s going on in a person’s brain years before symptoms such as memory loss start”.

Malcolm Barnes from Superlunary Labs added: “We work alongside Professor Chalmers to ensure virtual flavours are delivered from an easy to use, hygienic and highly calibrated device for Chalmers’ team to analyse.’