Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
This approach gives a more satisfactory understanding of 'natural' in accord with
common understanding and could be developed further by, for example,
incorporating the detail laid out in the EFFA Code of Practice for the production
of natural fl avouring ingredients.
1.6 'Natural' as applied to food additives and food
The preceding sections of this chapter have concentrated largely on the defi nition
of natural as applied to fl avourings in search for a defi nition that is recognised by
the general public, does not mislead, and can be utilised for foods, food ingredients,
additives and fl avourings. There was good reason for this, because there is no
defi nition for natural covering food additives such as food colours, preservatives,
antioxidants, etc. This does beg the obvious question - how is it that food
manufacturers can label their products as, for example, 'containing only natural
colours' when there is no defi nition for natural colours? With the current drive for
natural clean label products there is a void in the understanding and defi nition of
natural for all materials added to food except for fl avourings.
To fi ll this void, those involved with labelling foods in the EU are attempting to
use the fl avourings regulation defi nitions of natural as a template for determining
whether other additives, such as food colourings, etc., are natural. There are dangers
in this approach because many of the commonly accepted natural food additives,
ingredients and even some foods would no longer be considered to be natural if the
fl avourings defi nition was applied to them. A food such as margarine is produced by
hydrogenation which is a chemical modifi cation of the fat - but perhaps the
perception of consumers is that margarine is not natural anyway. Other foods
generally perceived as natural may not pass the test, such as cured meats where
sodium nitrite is added with the clear intention of undertaking a chemical reaction
with myoglobin to form the pink nitric oxide myoglobin associated with cured ham.
Breakfast cereals and snack foods formed by extrusion in which the temperature
exceeds 120°C in the pressurised extruder barrel exceeding the limit dictated by
traditional food preparation processes (Table 1.1). This also applies to some canned
foods where the accepted temperature/time conditions used in retorting to ensure a
microbiologically safe product is 250°F or 121°C for 10 minutes.
The application of the defi nition of 'natural' in Regulation (EC) No. 1334/2008
to additives that are currently considered to be natural would preclude many of
them from natural status in the EU. However, they would probably still qualify as
natural if the US defi nition of natural for fl avourings and the IOFI interpretation
of natural were used.
1.7 Conclusions
There is no universally accepted defi nition of 'natural' that can be generally applied
across all food ingredients, fl avourings and food additives. The most comprehensive
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