Defining the term ‘natural’ in the context of food products - Natural Food Additives, Ingredients and Flavourings - page 12

not have to be recognised fl avouring ingredients nor as food intended for human
consumption but the fi nished product must satisfy these criteria.

Chemical processes
The second part of the defi nition of appropriate physical processes (see above) is
referring to chemical processes and in effect excludes materials formed by chemical
synthesis utilising the chemical reagents listed in Article 3.2(k), plus others, from
being natural. The term inter alia is used because this indicates that the chemical
reagents listed in the defi nition are not exhaustive and merely represent examples
of chemical reagents typically used to intentionally or irreversibly modify the
chemical components of source materials. EFFA provides examples of reactions
and reagent groups disallowed. These are shown in Table 1.3.
Chemical processes that do not use chemical catalysts and classifi cations of
reagents defi ned above can be used to produce natural fl avouring substances such
as the formation of esters from acids and alcohols in the presence of natural
organic acids (that contain C-H bonds).

1.2.5 Labelling natural fl avourings in the EU
There are four terms for the sales descriptions of natural fl avourings detailed in
Regulation (EC) No. 1334/2008, Article 16 paragraphs 2-6. These are described
below.

Table 1.3 Typical examples of reactions and reagent groups disallowed under Article
3.2(k) of Regulation (EC) No. 1334/2008

Reagent group Defi nition Typical representatives

Singlet oxygen, ozone Oxygen in an excited state Singlet O 2 , O 3

Inorganic catalysts or
reagents

All chemical compounds
that act as catalyst except
those containing C-H
bonds, metal catalysts and
organometallic reagents

HCl, H 2 SO 4 , NaOH, KOH,
MgSO 4 , NH 3 , LiAlH 4 ,
KMnO 4 , DiBAlH, NaBH 4

￿ ￿ ￿ ￿ ￿

Metal catalysts Elemental metals Typical examples are Fe and

Cu

Organometallic reagents Chemical compounds

containing bonds between
carbon and metal that act
as reagents

Sodium ethoxide, sodium
methoxide, Grignard
reagents, organolithium
reagents

UV radiation Electromagnetic radiation

with a wavelength in the range
10-400 nm

UV light, Rose Bengal

Inter alia Other non-natural catalysts,

sources of radicals and
reagents considered
unacceptable by EFFA

Hydroperoxides (such as
tert-butylhydroperoxide),
pTSA, TEMPO