If you look at the product label of blueberry yogurt, you may notice “natural flavours” listed in the ingredients, but what is it? The flavour did not come from crushing up the fruit. It’s not that simple. Chemical compounds that give blueberry its flavour are extracted in a laboratory, enhanced, and added to the yogurt. This might surprise some of you but yes, natural flavours contain chemicals. The truth is, everything around us is made up of chemicals.
Yogurt (Source: By Takeaway (Own work))
The positive connotation associated with “natural” has misled many consumers. The food industry tells us what we want to hear and keeps the rest a secret, and it’s working. A study published by Consumer Reports found that people prefer to buy food labelled as natural.
On Merriam-Webster, “natural” is defined as “existing in nature and not made or caused by people” and “not having any extra substances or chemicals added”. This is not the case in the food industry, which is why many people are misled. Aside from the flavouring, natural flavours contain emulsifiers, solvents, and preservatives that do not need to be disclosed on the product label. The term “natural flavours” listed on the food label could contain up to 100 added ingredients.
According to the FDA’s Code of Federal Regulations, natural flavours are derived from a natural source such as, plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms. But are the flavours still “natural” after being processed in a laboratory? Many techniques to extract flavours from a natural source have been studied. In enzymatic extraction, enzymes like lipases, esterases, nucleases or glycosidases break down the flavouring component from larger molecules. In solvent extraction, acetone, alcohol or propylene glycol are used to extract the flavouring chemical. The flavour is labelled as “natural” even when a synthetic solvent, like propylene glycol (safe in small quantities but toxic in large doses) is used because the flavour came from a natural source.
Chemical Structure of Vanillin (Source)
While I agree that some natural products are better, there are also a majority that are not. Natural vanilla flavour can come from castoreum, a brown slime secreted by a beaver or from vanillin, extracted from vanilla beans. Although they taste the same, most consumers would prefer vanillin over castoreum in their vanilla ice cream. However, castoreum is hidden under the term natural flavours, so you won’t know unless you do some digging.
Health Canada and Canada Food Inspection Agency need to set stricter regulations for the food industry. It is unethical how manufactures are allowed to hide controversy ingredients under the term “natural flavours”. Consumers should be able to read a food label and know exactly what they are eating. Next time you’re buying a naturally flavoured product, you might want to think twice.
The video shown below talks more about natural flavours.
Carmen Chu
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