October 15/St. Francis, Wis./Prepared Foods Magazine -- Wixon Inc., manufacturer of a comprehensive line of ingredients for the food and beverage industries, has promoted Mariano Gascon from flavor lab director to vice president of research and development.

In his new role, Gascon will direct product and food technology developments through Wixon's staff of food technologists, flavorists, and research professionals.

Since joining the company in 1997, Gascon has led the team of flavor chemists at Wixon as the flavor lab's director. His experience in creating flavors spans nearly 18 years and includes developing numerous new products and finding ways to mask unwanted flavor notes for Wixon clients. Gascon is known internationally for his work in flavors and ingredients and recently has been published in "Masking agents for use in foods in modifying flavour in food (2007)" for his work in flavor masking technology.

Under Gascon's direction, the Wixon flavor team created one of Wixon's most successful products, its Mag-nifique line of flavor enhancers and masking agents. The team also created the new Wixon table salt substitute, KCLean Salt, with half the sodium of regular table salt.

Gascon is a certified flavor chemist and serves as national chairman of the Society of Flavor Chemists. He also is a member of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and the American Academy of Candy Technologists (AACT). He is a native of Mexico City, Mexico, and resides in Chicago.

He earned a bachelor's degree in biochemical engineering and a major in food sciences from National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico City, Mexico, and he is currently working on obtaining a master's degree in product development at Northwestern University.

From the November 5, 2007, Prepared Foods e-Flash