Natural Aroma

In the European Union and Switzerland, a natural flavor is a flavoring substance or a mixture of flavoring substances that is obtained from raw materials of plant or animal origin using suitable physical , enzymatic or microbiological processes and is chemically identical to naturally occurring flavoring substances. The term may only be used "if the aroma component comes from different raw materials and naming the raw materials would not accurately describe their aroma or taste."

In addition, until the beginning of 2011, the terms nature-identical aroma and artificial aroma existed in the EU . An aroma that is chemically identical to naturally occurring substances but was chemically synthesized was described as nature-identical . Artificial is the term used for aromas that are produced artificially and do not occur in nature. According to the EU Flavor Regulation passed in 2008, the labels “nature-identical” and “artificial” have no longer been used since January 20, 2011.

In the narrower sense, natural flavors that have been obtained from the food or spices in question using purely physical processes and have not been chemically modified, e.g. B. strawberry aroma from strawberries or vanilla aroma from vanilla pods may be described as "natural strawberry aroma" or "natural vanilla aroma". Alternatively, "vanilla extract" is also used in such cases. In the case of flavors identified as “natural” without an indication of their origin, however, it can be assumed that they were produced biotechnologically from other raw materials, i.e. H. using bacteria , fungi or enzymes. For example, mold cultures can produce flavors that taste like peach , coconut or nut, and natural flavors with a raspberry flavor are mostly obtained from cedarwood oil. Vanillin can be declared as a natural aroma if it was genetically engineered , whereas in the usual production from waste from cellulose extraction ( sulphite waste liquor ) or from crude oil it was previously classified as nature-identical and is now simply declared as an aroma without further labeling.

Critics such as the consumer advice centers and the German Additive Museum regard the labeling of foods with clean labels such as "without artificial flavors" as misleading, since artificial flavors are only allowed to be used in very few product groups and many consumers imagine something different under "natural" flavors than what is actually contained in the product.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Regulation (EC) No. 1334/2008 ... on flavors ... for use in and on food , accessed on July 13, 2013 . See also the consolidated version of April 22, 2013 (PDF)
   
2. ↑ Swiss Flavor Ordinance of 2016, Art. 10e.
3. ↑ Directive 88/388 / EEC of the Council ... on flavorings for use in food and on starting materials for their production of June 22, 1988 (PDF)
4. ↑ Commentary on the new Flavor Ordinance ( Memento of the original dated December 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from the German Association of the Flavor Industry, January 2009. 
5. ↑ Encyclopedia of Additives: Natural Flavors ( Memento of the original from December 8th, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 1, 2010. 
6. ↑ Stern: Natural flavors are so artificial . 22nd August 2015.