Defining the term ‘natural’ in the context of food products - Natural Food Additives, Ingredients and Flavourings - page 21

is the EU defi nition of natural fl avourings but this is restricted to specifi c categories
of fl avourings and is, in certain aspects, complex. It is therefore open to differences
in interpretation, which in turn can be potentially misleading. Elsewhere in the
world the defi nition of natural fl avourings encompasses all categories of
fl avourings, but none have been developed to offer a full understanding of what
natural actually means and how it can be applied in the labelling of food products.
The issues above are important because the ability to label food products as
'natural' using only natural ingredients is of increasing relevance in the food
supply chain. Consumer demand for natural clean label products is gathering
momentum and presenting new challenges for the manufacturers of all types of
food ingredients. Retailers are demanding food cupboard ingredients for new
food products, imposing severe restrictions on recipe development, formulation
fl exibility and labelling. What is needed is a defi nition of 'natural' that can be
applied widely across food ingredients additives and fl avourings and which would
allow food manufacturers to provide the consumer with verifi able and unambiguous
information. But because of the emotive associations of the word with goodness,
wholeness, purity and abstract concepts such as romantic notions about the
countryside and traditional farming practices, this may not be possible. In the
absence of consensus about the defi nition of 'natural', diffi culties will continue
especially when in one region of the world a food ingredient may be natural but in
another region it is not, creating problems for international trade. Perhaps the US
FDA is correct to discourage the use of the word 'natural' in the context of food?

1.8 References
CIAA ( 2010 ), CIAA Guidelines on Regulation (EC) No. 1334/2008 on Flavourings and
Certain Food Ingredients with Flavouring Properties for Use in and on Food ,
Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of the EU, Brussels, www.ciaa.be/
documents/others/ciaa%20guideline%20regulation%20fl avouringsV13.pdf [accessed

November 2011 ].
CODEX ( 2008 ), Guidelines for the Use of Flavourings, CAC/GL 66-2008 , Codex
Alimentarius Commission , Rome , www.codexalimentarius.net/download/standards/
11020/cxg_066e.pdf [accessed November 2011 ].
EC (2002), 'Council Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 laying down the general principles and
requirements of food law, establishing the European Union Food Safety Authority and
laying down procedures in matters of food safety', Offi cial Journal of the European
Union , L31 , 1 - 22 .
EC (2008), 'Council Regulation (EC) No. 1334/2008 on fl avourings and certain food
ingredients with fl avouring properties for use in and on foods', Offi cial Journal of the
European Union , L354 , 34 - 50 .
EFFA ( 2010 ), EFFA Guidance Document for the Production of Natural Flavouring
Ingredients , European Flavour and Fragrance Association , Brussels , http://aefaa.com/ws/
images/Final%20EFFA%20Guidance%20Document%20on%20the%20production%20
of%20natural%20Flavouring%20Ingredients-fi nal_170310.pdf

￿ ￿ ￿ ￿ ￿

[accessed November

2011 ].
FSA ( 2008 ), Criteria for the Use of the Terms Fresh, Pure, Natural etc. in Food Labelling ,
Food Standards Agency , London , www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/markcritguidance.
pdf [accessed November 2011 ].