Natural flavors are an increasingly common component in food labels, yet most remain unclear about what their purpose and safety are.
Manufacturers using natural chemicals instead of real passionfruit to achieve similar flavor results. For instance, to achieve natural passionfruit flavors on products would require using 25% of world’s supply of passionfruit; not feasible! Instead they employ various natural compounds with similar effects.
Natural Origins
Artificial flavors, on the other hand, are created synthetically using chemicals that mimic nature.
Flavoring compounds used to produce natural flavors come from either plants or animals; the FDA does not require manufacturers to disclose which specific sources their natural flavors come from.
Dependent upon their ingredients, natural flavors may contain additional chemicals such as solvents and emulsifiers to aid production. While this does not make them unhealthy or unsafe to consume, their presence makes the flavor less natural.
Organic natural flavors are created using ingredients grown without synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, never from genetically modified plants, and that therefore pose no health risks to consumers. Opting for such flavors helps brands meet shoppers’ preferences for more environmentally friendly products.
Natural Sources
Natural flavors are the fourth most frequently listed ingredient on food labels, appearing in everything from sodas and breakfast cereals to trendy bubbly waters. But what exactly are natural flavors, and how do they make food taste so good?
Wright notes that natural flavorists use ingredients found in nature to recreate flavor molecules our brains recognize as fruity. For example, a lemon natural flavor could consist of oil or juice from organically grown lemons combined with other substances for an authentic lemon taste profile.
All natural flavors are overseen by the Flavor Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA), which conducts extensive tests to ensure they meet all regulatory and quality requirements, screening them for allergens, and declaring them “natural”, according to Wright.
Organic natural flavors must be produced using organically farmed plants and animals, meeting stringent environmental and social standards, making them ideal for those concerned with the potential health risks posed by synthetic additives and preservatives, or adhering to specific dietary restrictions like veganism.
Natural Chemicals
Natural flavors in sodas, breakfast cereals and bubbly waters don’t always derive their flavors from what they promise to taste like. For example, raspberry flavor doesn’t necessarily derive from real raspberries but from 4-phenylbutan-2-one which is found both in oil extracted from some berries as well as plants like african violets, saffron and fermented yeast.
The FDA does not mandate food labels to list what ingredients comprise natural flavorings unless these include allergenic substances like milk, egg, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, wheat or peanuts. Natural flavors are frequently used to add sweetness, moisture or other desirable properties to products lacking them.
Flavorists employ various techniques to extract flavors from natural sources, including enzymatic extraction (using enzymes such as lipases, esterases and nucleases) or solvent extraction (with chemicals such as acetone and alcohol). A naturally flavored product often consists of multiple components which must be combined in the laboratory in order to mimic its taste.
Natural Organic
When this ingredient appears on sparkling water cans, ice cream cartons and cookie packages, it indicates that their flavors are organic and natural – part of an effort by manufacturers and food service companies to meet consumer preferences for cleaner label food and beverages that avoid potentially harmful synthetic ingredients.
FDA regulations mandate that, to be classified as natural flavors, substances must come from fruits, vegetables or spices; edible yeast; bark, flower buds roots leaves similar plant material or animal sources like meat fish poultry eggs dairy products etc; as well as through physical processes such as distillation fermentation or solvent extraction.
Organic natural flavors are made from ingredients grown and processed according to standards established by an organic certification body, such as USDA or EU organic labels. This strict set of standards ensures no synthetic additives, no GMOs and sustainable farming practices.
