![]() But if you’re allergic to a less common allergen, like sesame, apple, or banana, you’ll have to contact the manufacturer directly to see if that ingredient is part of a product’s flavor blend. ![]() ![]() If that’s the case, you’ll see a disclaimer below the ingredient list. The FDA doesn’t require food labels to say what’s in their “natural flavor” unless the ingredients include a common allergen like milk, egg, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, or soy. So how do you know what you’re getting into? Once the flavorists develop the recipe for a flavor blend, it’s industrially manufactured at a production plant, which is basically a giant kitchen, according to the CDC. And despite the fact that these flavors are blended in a lab, they’d still be considered natural on a label. Then it’s time to start building the flavor by adding tropical notes like pineapple, cherry, and orange. Once she has the base substance, she’ll dilute it with water, glycerin, or ethanol. Once extracted from the natural source, the flavor can be blended with others to create a flavor system. The first thing I learned is that natural and artificial flavors aren’t that different from each other, at least not chemically. In the Vice article, food historian Nadia Berenstein wrote that in the 20th century, food manufacturers took. Second, if that doesn't make you feel better, almost no artificial vanilla manufacturers use castoreum. It comes from the castor gland that is located next to a beaver's anal glands. The truth about natural vs artificial flavors First, castoreum doesn't come from a beaver's butt. Am I getting some essential oils or a witches’ brew of toxic chemicals? And I assumed that “natural” was better, but is that really the case? So I talked to experts working at the flavor frontier to find out. But few of us, myself included, ever stop to consider what those words mean. The phrase “made with natural and artificial flavors” is familiar to anyone who’s ever been to a grocery store. ![]() The chemicals were coming from an elephant-trunk shaped machine at the Museum of Food and Drink in N.Y.C., a machine similar to those used by international flavor houses like Givaudan, International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), and Firmenich-responsible for blending flavors into processed foods. In reality, we were smelling chemicals: methyl cyclopentenolone, diacetyl, methyl methoxy pyrazine, and benzaldehyde to be exact-four common ingredients found in both natural and artificial flavors. I pressed the “Butter,” “Hazelnut,” and “Almond Extract” buttons simultaneously. She pressed “Almond,” and the air filled with a nutty aroma. “Oh my god, this is just like Wonka’s factory!” my friend exclaimed, running her hands over the scent machine’s color-coded collection of buttons. ![]()
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