Product Code Database
A flavoring (or flavouring), also known as flavor (or flavour) or flavorant, is a food additive that is used to improve the taste or smell of food. It changes the perceptual impression of food as determined primarily by the of the Taste and olfactory system.Small DM, Green BG. " A Proposed Model of a Flavor Modality ". In: Murray MM, Wallace MT, editors. The Neural Bases of Multisensory Processes. Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press/Taylor & Francis; 2012. Chapter 36. Along with additives, other components, like sugars, determine the taste of food.
A flavoring is defined as a substance that gives another substance taste, altering the characteristics of the solute, causing it to become sweet, sour, pungent, etc. Although the term, in common language, denotes the combined chemical sensations of taste and smell, the same term is used in the fragrance and flavors industry to refer to edible chemicals and extracts that alter the flavor of food and food products through the sense of smell.
Owing to the high cost, or unavailability, of natural flavor extracts, most commercial flavorings are "nature-identical", which means that they are the chemical equivalent of natural flavors, but chemically synthesized rather than having been extracted from source materials. Identification of components of natural foods, for example a raspberry, may be done using technology such as headspace techniques, so the flavorist can imitate the flavor by using a few of the same chemicals present. In the EU legislation, the term "natural-identical flavoring" does not exist. The legislation is specified on what is a "flavoring" and a "natural flavoring".
There are different ways to divide flavorings. First by the way they are produced. A vanilla flavoring can for example be obtained naturally by extraction from vanilla seeds, or one can start with cheap chemicals and try to make a similar substance artificially (in this example vanillin). A nature-identical flavoring is chemically an exact copy of the original substance and can be either natural or artificial. Vanillin is neither obtained from the vanilla plant nor an exact copy of vanilla, but a synthesized nature-identical component of the vanilla aroma. Vanillin is not vanilla, but gives a food a vanilla aroma.
The second division is by the effect they have on smell (aroma) or taste of the food. The effect can be the aroma of a specific fruit, Benzaldehyde, butter, Liquid smoke, or some fantasy flavor. The aroma of the flavoring may resemble that of the source, or imitate a particular unrelated food. It may for example be the extract from vanilla seeds and smell like vanilla, or it may be the extract of a potato and smell like a banana. Irrespective of the effect, the flavoring may be natural or artificial. It may for example be the natural tissue of an animal with the aroma of a citrus, or just a chemical that smells like a citrus.
Techniques to obtain natural flavorings include the use of and/or . European legislators have accepted flavorings produced by manmade genetically modified organisms (GMOs) – not found in nature – as natural flavorings.
Because nature-identical flavorings can be produced at low costs, the food industry will argue that nature-identical and natural flavorings are exactly the same. They have the advantage to be chemically pure, without that may be coupled with natural flavorings. On the other hand, they are missing the synergy of other substances present in their natural origin, so they may lack subtlety.
Along with additives, other components, like sugars, determine the taste of food. The , which detect chemical irritation in the mouth and throat, as well as temperature and texture, are also important to the overall perception of food.
Unlike smelling, which occurs upon inhalation, the sensing of flavors in the mouth occurs in the exhalation phase of breathing and is perceived differently by an individual. In other words, the smell of food is different depending on whether one is smelling it before or after it has entered one's mouth.
Even the color of food can affect one's experience of the taste significantly. In one study, adding more food color to a drink increased the perceived sweetness, with darker colored solutions being rated 2–10% better than lighter ones, though it had 1% less sucrose concentration. Food manufacturers exploit this phenomenon; for example, different colors of the U.S. product Froot Loops cereal and most brands of often use the same flavorings.
| Glutamic acid salts | This amino acid's sodium salt, monosodium glutamate (MSG), is one of the most commonly used flavor enhancers in food processing. Mono- and diglutamate salts are also commonly used. |
| Glycine salts | Simple amino acid salts typically combined with glutamic acid as flavor enhancers |
| Guanylic acid (GMP) salts | Nucleotide salts typically combined with glutamic acid as flavor enhancers |
| Inosinic acid (IMP) salts | Nucleotide salts created from the breakdown of AMP. Due to high costs of production, typically combined with glutamic acid as flavor enhancers |
| 5'-ribonucleotide salts | A blend of GMP and IMP salts ("I+G"), generally in the disodium ribonucleotides form; typically combined with amino acids flavor enhancers |
Also flavor enhancers are not considered flavorings under the EU legislation but additives (Point 14 of Annex I of Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008). Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on food additives (consolidated version of 8 August 2021). The preamble is reproduced here
In the EU, Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008 on flavorings and certain food ingredients with flavoring properties for use in/on foods, i.e. the EU Flavouring Regulation, was adopted on 16 December 2008 and entered into force on 20 January 2009. It applies from 20 January 2011.
The UK Food industry, in collaboration with the flavoring industry, has developed guidance on what to consider when declaring a pictorial representation of a food ingredient on the label of a pre-packed product.
Natural flavorings are obtained from plant or animal raw materials, by physical, microbiological, or enzymatic processes. They can be either used in their natural state or processed for human consumption, but cannot contain any nature-identical or artificial flavoring substances.
Nature-identical flavorings are obtained by synthesis or isolated through chemical processes, which are chemically and identical to flavoring substances naturally present in products intended for human consumption. They cannot contain any artificial flavoring substances.
Artificial flavorings are "flavouring substances not identified in a natural product intended for human consumption, whether or not the product is processed."
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UK Food Law defines a natural flavor as:
The U.S. Code of Federal Regulations describes a "natural flavoring" as:
Similarly, persons with known Food sensitivity or Food allergy to food products are advised to avoid foods that contain generic "natural flavors" or to first determine the source of the flavoring before consuming the food. Such flavors may be derived from a variety of source products that are themselves common , such as Dairy allergy, Soy allergy, sesame, Egg allergy, and Nut allergy. In the EU, nevertheless, this information is available in the labeling. Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, states in article 9 that any ingredient or processing aid listed in Annex II (of the aforementioned Regulation) or derived from a substance or product listed in Annex II causing allergies or intolerances used in the manufacture or preparation of a food and still present in the finished product, even if in an altered form, must be included in the labeling.Regulation (EU) no 1169/2011 of the European parliament and of the council of 25 October 2011
The compounds used to produce artificial flavors are almost identical to those that occur naturally. It has been suggested that artificial flavors may be safer to consume than natural flavors due to the standards of purity and mixture consistency that are enforced either by the company or by law. Natural flavors, in contrast, may contain impurities from their sources, while artificial flavors are typically more pure and are required to undergo more testing before being sold for consumption.
food industry and beverage companies may require flavors for new products, product line extensions (e.g., low fat versions of existing products), or changes in formula or processing for existing products. In 2011, about US$10.6 billion were generated with the sale of flavors; the majority of the flavors used are consumed in ultra-processed food and convenience food.Ceresana, market study Flavors, December 2012, http://www.ceresana.com/en/market-studies/chemicals/flavors/
The number of food smells is unbounded; a food's flavor, therefore, can be easily altered by changing its smell while keeping its taste similar. This is exemplified in artificially flavored gelatin dessert, and candies, which, while made of bases with a similar taste, have dramatically different flavors due to the use of different scents or fragrances.
Most flavors represent a mixture of , the raw material that is produced by flavor companies. In rare cases, a single synthetic compound is used in pure form. Artificial vanillin and ethylvanillin are a notable exception, as well as the artificial strawberry flavor (ethyl methylphenylglycidate). The ubiquitous "green apple" aroma is based on hexyl acetate.
| + | |
| Manzanate | Apple |
| Diacetyl, acetylpropionyl, acetoin | |
| Isoamyl acetate | Banana |
| Benzaldehyde | Bitter almond, cherry |
| Cinnamaldehyde | Cinnamon |
| Ethyl propionate | |
| Methyl anthranilate | Grape |
| Limonene | Orange |
| γ-Decalactone | Peach |
| Ethyl decadienoate | Pear |
| Allyl hexanoate | Pineapple |
| Ethyl methylphenylglycidate | Strawberry |
| Ethyl maltol | Caramelized sugar, cotton candy |
| 2,4-Dithiapentane | Truffle |
| Ethylvanillin | Vanilla |
| Methyl salicylate | Wintergreen |
Some flavors are relatively multifaceted. For example, the basic aroma of cooked meat is formed by a combination of Maillard reaction, lipid peroxidation, and degradation of sulfur-containing compounds, such as thiamine and cysteine. With this understanding, an artificial chicken flavor can be made from ingredients as simple as glucose, salt, cysteine, and arachidonic acid: when heated in a water solution they undergo these three reactions to produce the desired flavor. (Such a flavor produced during the preparation process from precursor compounds is called a "process flavor"). Small tweaks to the mixture can instead produce a beef flavor. This kind of basic meat flavoring has been known since the 1970s. Of course, these four chemicals only mimic a small number of possible reactions out of the many reactions possible among the complex flavor precursor chemicals found in meat. For a more realistically complex aroma, natural feedstocks such as yeast extract, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, and spices can be used to expand the number of possible reactions. They also contribute peptides, free amino acids, and nucleic acid metabolites that all play a role in the natural taste of meat.
Determination
Few standards are available or being prepared for sensory analysis of flavors.e.g. ISO 13301:2002 Sensory analysis – Methodology – General guidance for measuring odor, flavor and taste detection thresholds by a three-alternative forced-choice (3-AFC) procedure, or ISO 6564:1985 Sensory analysis – Methodology – Flavor profile methods. In chemical analysis of flavors, solid phase extraction, solid phase microextraction, and headspace gas chromatography are applied to extract and separate the flavor compounds in the sample. The determination is typically done by various mass spectrometric techniques.Use of Ozone Depleting Substances in Laboratories. TemaNord 2003:516. norden.org A flavor lexicon can aid the development of objective language for food.
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