Many of today’s active-lifestyle consumers expect their functional food and beverage products to be all-natural (of course), taste amazing, and be free from any “additives” or “chemicals.”

In this noble quest, many of them turn to the internet and social media influencers to help them make sense of the often complicated world of nutrition and supplement products. The challenge is that few of these “online experts” are actual food scientists and the opinions presented as facts are often simple not true.

The purpose of this article is to help educate food and beverage brands and manufacturers on the health, safety, and use of natural flavors in functional food and beverage products. Let’s dive in. But first, I present the actual, 100% natural, fully organic, grown in actual dirt, every ingredient found in a Strawberry:

But, you may say… that’s a bunch of chemicals!! And you are correct. All plants, spices, fruits and flavors are essentially bunches of chemicals.

When consumers ask why we don’t simply use actual strawberries to flavor a strawberry protein shake, the answer is simple, “We would love to, but strawberries decay and turn rancid over time, so we have to remove all the parts of the strawberry that rot, and just use the ingredients that make it taste like a strawberry. Our first goal is food safety, and using whole fruits or berries or plants beyond a couple of days of harvesting them simply isn’t a safe option for flavoring most packaged good products or beverages.

Are the ingredients used in Flavors (Natural, Extracts, Organic, Artificial, etc.) safe?

Short answer:

Yes.

Longer answer:

In 1959, The Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association of the United States (FEMA) took its initial actions to establish a novel program to assess the safety and “GRAS” (generally recognized as safe) status of flavor ingredients as described in the 1958 Food Additives Amendments to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Federal law governing the regulation of flavors and other food ingredients.  Since then, the FEMA GRAS program has become the longest-running and most widely recognized industry GRAS assessment program.

The statutory definition of GRAS has four key criteria, all of which must be met for a food ingredient to be considered generally recognized as safe and exempt from the requirements for food additive approval:

1. There must be general recognition of safety by qualified experts.
2. The experts must be qualified by training and experience to evaluate the substance’s safety.
3. The experts must base their determination of safety on scientific procedures or on common use in food prior to 1958.
4. The determination of general recognition of safety must take into account the conditions of intended use for the substance, in other words its function in the food, e.g. flavoring.

Are Natural Flavors actually different from artificial flavors?

Short answer:

Yes. They are formulated with 100% naturally sourced ingredients. Whereas artificial flavors can be formulated with synthetic or artificial ingredients from a variety of sources.

Longer answer:  

Natural Flavor
Natural flavors are ingredients that come from natural sources such as a spice, fruit, or vegetable.  They can even come from herbs, barks, roots, or similar plant materials.  Natural flavors also come from meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, and dairy products.  Flavors are only used to add taste to foods; they are not nutritional.

If something is labeled as “natural flavor” it must fit the definition of “natural flavor.”  Different countries define what it means for a flavor to be considered “natural.”  In the United States, both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have definitions of “natural flavor” in their regulations.

"The term natural flavor or natural flavoring means the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.”

You can read more about how the Food and Drug Administration classifies flavors and food ingredients here: CFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21 accessdata.fda.gov‍‍‍

Natural flavors can also be categorized into different types. To learn more about different kinds of natural flavors, Click Here.

Are Flavor Extracts the same as Natural Flavors?

Short Answer:

No. Natural flavors and flavor extracts are both all-natural, water-soluble products that add flavor to food and beverages, but they have some differences:

• Source: Natural flavors come from a variety of sources, including fruits, vegetables, spices, herbs, and more. Flavor extracts are concentrated solutions of plant-based components or chemicals derived from a single plant.
• Appearance: Natural extracts are usually clear, while flavor concentrates are cloudy or opaque.
• Heat and Shelf Stability: Natural flavors are generally more heat stable and have longer shelf life than extracts.
• Consistency: Flavor Extracts are dependent on the specific field, plant or fruit used in the process with high levels of variation. Natural  flavors are built with the foundation natural elements of the flavor and are generally more consistent batch to batch than extracts.
• Freezing point: Extracts affect the freezing point of recipes, while concentrates do not.
• Components: Flavor extracts contain only one component, such as vanillin (from vanilla beans) or citrus oil (from oranges).
• Cost: Natural flavors are generally more concentrated than extracts, and provide a lower “cost per serving” than flavor extracts.

Flavor extracts are best for kitchen, baking or cooked recipes, as high heat will evaporate the alcohol. Flavor systems / Natural Flavors are often water-based and are ideal for higher temperature food and beverage applications.

Want to learn more about specific ingredient classifications? Read our breakdown of the differences between Natural, Organic, and Non-GMO