There’s a chance that you might have come across “natural flavour” tag on many of the food items that you might have picked at the store. What are they? Are they safe for consumption? Let’s throw some light on this and give you some information about this most common listed ingredient.
As mentioned, above, natural flavours are all over the place, be it food or beverages. They are on their way to becoming the most commonly used ingredients found on the food labels (In America, “Natural flavour” is the fourth most common ingredient listed on labels according to Environmental Working Group’s Food Scores).
What are Natural Flavours and what are they derived from?
The Natural Flavours are substances that are sourced from plants or animals, extracted & purified and are added back to the food.
Food flavourings containing any of these are considered natural according to International Food and Information Council (IFIC):
Fruit or fruit juice
Spice
Edible yeast
Vegetable or vegetable juice
Bark
Herb
Root
Bud
Leaf or similar plant material
Meat, seafood
Poultry/eggs
Dairy products
Fermentation products
Why are they used?
Natural flavours make food taste better and help to keep it fresh for a long time. For e.g., naturally flavoured fruit candy may not actually contain fruit, may just contain the natural flavour of the fruit. Natural flavours don’t really contribute nutritionally, they are just used for flavouring purposes.
Natural Flavors – Classified Ingredients
Plenty of natural flavours are being created by the food chemists, but the most commonly found in foods & beverages are as follows:
- Amyl Acetate: Distilled from bananas to provide banana-like flavour.
- Citral: It is extracted from lemongrass, lemon, orange and pimento. It is used in citrus-flavoured sweets and beverages.
- Benzaldehyde: Extracted from almonds, cinnamon, etc., and is frequently used to give foods an almond flavour.
Natural versus artificial flavours – The difference
Natural flavours are sourced from plants and animals. Artificial flavours are sourced from man-made substances, but both are often processed in a lab and their molecules may be identical.
Flavour manufacturers sometimes may add ingredients like preservatives or stabilizers to the flavour to enhance the taste of a particular food, but these additional ingredients may not necessarily come from natural sources.
Is MSG a natural flavour?
No. MSG is a flavour enhancer. Researchers have never ever found a link between MSG and adverse health effects. If it’s used in food, it needs to be listed in the ingredients.
Do natural flavours contain gluten?
Yes. Natural flavours can be derived from gluten-containing grains, (barley, wheat, etc.), but you will surely find mention of it on your food label.
Are “Natural Flavours” safe for consumption?
If you ever wonder why every bottle of orange juice tastes the same? Is it really that all oranges taste the same? Obviously, the answer will be “no.” This consistency is able to be maintained because of natural flavours. In order to have a continuous supply of orange juice around the year, companies need to store orange juice for months in giant tanks with zero oxygen to prevent oxidation. When stored for longer periods, Pulps and juices tend to lose their flavour. So, natural flavours that are derived from orange oil and essence are added to this juice to restore the lost flavour and maintain consistency. So the final outcome — flavouring of the orange juice did come from oranges.
All the ingredients added to the food require prior authorization from food authorities. So consumers should not directly accept or reject any ingredients that are either natural or artificial flavours. Certified products can never contain any high-risk ingredients, heavy metals, toxins or any other ingredients that may be harmful for consumption of humans or for the environment.
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