Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Natural fl avourings: Article 16.6
The term 'natural fl avouring' may only be used if the fl avouring component
is derived from different source materials and where a reference to the
source materials would not refl ect their fl avour or taste.
This is probably the most diffi cult defi nition to understand and was initially coined
to cater for fl avourings such as barbecue fl avouring or toffee fl avouring where there
is no relationship between the named fl avour and the individual source materials.
Applying this to a fl avour where the source materials can refl ect the fl avour; a chicken
fl avouring containing natural source materials derived from chicken at a level of less
than 95% where there is a clear relationship between these source materials and the
fl avour profi le of chicken cannot be called 'natural fl avouring' - it should be called
'natural chicken fl avouring with other natural fl avourings'. However, if the fl avour is
made up of components from pork and beef and the overall fl avour profi le is chicken
it can be called 'natural fl avouring'. Likewise if the fl avouring is made up from yeast
extracts and the overall fl avour profi le is chicken it can be called 'natural fl avouring'.
The Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries (CIAA) (now called
FoodDrinkEurope), representing European food manufacturers, has produced a
set of draft guidelines (CIAA 2010). These detail a range of labelling options in
addition to the ones outlined above for the four natural fl avouring groups
prescribed in Regulation (EC) No. 1334/2008.
1.3 The defi nition of 'natural' in the United States
In the US, the term 'natural' is considered in detail in regulations covering
fl avourings incorporated into the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 21
outlined below (US CFR 2011):
US fl avour defi nitions
CFR 21, Chapter 1, Part 101.22 (a)(3)
The term natural fl avor or natural fl avoring means the essential oil,
oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any
product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the fl avoring
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 signifi cant function in food is fl avoring rather than
nutritional. Natural fl avors include the natural essence or extractives
obtained from plants listed in 182.10, 182.20, 182.40, and 182.50 and part
184 of this chapter, and the substances listed in 172.510 of this chapter.
This defi nition recognises, as in the EU defi nition, that foods subjected to
processing are natural but unlike the EU defi nition, thermal process fl avourings,
smoke fl avourings and fl avour precursors can be natural providing their source
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