Research progress in the screening and evaluation of umami peptides

Abstract Umami is an important element affecting food taste, and the development of umami peptides is a topic of interest in food‐flavoring research. The existing technology used for traditional screening of umami peptides is time‐consuming and labor‐intensive, making it difficult to meet the requirements of high‐throughput screening, which limits the rapid development of umami peptides. The difficulty in performing a standard measurement of umami intensity is another problem that restricts the development of umami peptides. The existing methods are not sensitive and specific, making it difficult to achieve a standard evaluation of umami taste. This review summarizes the umami receptors and umami peptides, focusing on the problems restricting the development of umami peptides, high‐throughput screening, and establishment of evaluation standards. The rapid screening of umami peptides was realized based on molecular docking technology and a machine learning method, and the standard evaluation of umami could be realized with a bionic taste sensor. The progress of rapid screening and evaluation methods significantly promotes the study of umami peptides and increases its application in the seasoning industry.