Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
fact it is very diffi cult to identify any food that, from a purist viewpoint, could be
termed natural; perhaps raw fi sh consumed in countries like Japan and Holland,
the witchetty grub in Australia, and honey (but even here the bees may have been
sourcing nectar from selectively bred plants). We can conclude therefore that the
bulk of the food consumed by the majority of people on the planet has been
manipulated by humankind in some way. It is therefore important to identify a
more appropriate and rational meaning for the word natural that can be applied to
food, is generally recognised, and easily understood by consumers and can be
used by food product developers and labelled in a way that does not mislead. This
is not as simple as it seems.
1.2 The defi nition of 'natural' in the European Union
Turning to legal defi nitions of natural, nowhere has a defi nition been applied
more rigorously than in Regulation (EC) No. 1334/2008 on fl avourings (EC 2008)
in the European Union (EU). Flavourings are defi ned in this regulation as
'products not intended to be consumed as such, which are added to food in order
to impart or modify odour and/or taste'. They are sub-classifi ed into six categories:
fl avouring substances, fl avouring preparations, thermal process fl avourings,
smoke fl avourings, fl avour precursors, other fl avourings and mixtures of these.
The term 'other' is intended as a 'catch all' defi nition and includes fl avourings not
covered by the fi ve preceding categories. Article 16 of the Regulation prescribes
which of the above groups can use the term 'natural' through the wording laid out
below:
Use of the term 'natural'
Article 16.2
The term 'natural' for the description of a fl avouring may only be used if
the fl avouring component comprises only fl avouring preparations and/or
natural fl avourings substances
.
Only two of the six categories of fl avourings therefore qualify for natural status.
Flavouring substances are natural if they comply with the defi nition given in
Article 3.29(c) of the Regulation shown below and all fl avouring preparations are
natural.
1.2.1 Flavouring substances
A fl avouring substance is a defi ned chemical substance with fl avouring properties
and can be manufactured by chemical synthesis from petrochemical sources or
using technologies that produce natural fl avouring substances. It should be noted
that the terms 'nature identical' and 'artifi cial' no longer exist in the EU following
the implementation of Regulation (EC) No. 1334/2008 and cannot be used to
describe fl avouring substances. The defi nition of a natural fl avouring substance is
outlined below.
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