Artificial Flavor Vs. Natural Flavor

Artificial flavors are almost everywhere in everyday common foods, unless one scrutinizes every bite. Like artificial colors and sweeteners, much debate and concern exists over the safety of artificial flavor ingredients but what exactly are they?

According to the FDA, a flavoring agent or adjuvant is a “substance added to impart or help impart a taste or aroma in food” and flavor enhancers are “substances added to supplement, enhance, or modify the original taste and/or aroma of food without imparting a characteristic taste or aroma of its own”.

Natural versus artificial

A natural flavoring ingredient, or enhancer, contains the flavoring constituent, or compound, derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable, vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy, or fermented products. While most think of plants being a source of natural flavors, many fail to think they can come from animal sources as well.

Artificial flavoring ingredients on the other hand are not but rather synthesized based on detailed analysis of the chemical structure of their natural counterparts. You may have noticed that artificial flavors never quite taste exactly like the real stuff, simply because the ways chemicals combine in food can't be replicated in every detail.

Artificial flavors are used for two main reasons: 1) they may be more stable than natural ones and 2) are certainly are less expensive, so manufacturers prefer them.

Are artificial flavor ingredients safe?

Not to be confused with artificial sweeteners where there is more research, the research on artificial flavoring safety is more scant but what is there tends to show that they’re not harmful. However, just because something has not been shown to be harmful is not the same as saying they’re safe; a lot of unknowns remain.

I'm not crazy about them, because they don't usually reproduce the natural taste of foods probably because natural flavors are very complex. The other concern with artificial flavoring ingredients is that they are often a barometer for low-quality foods. Avoiding them can be tricky as labeling requirements are vague. Try to choose products free of any kind of added flavoring ingredients or choose those where it’s clear that they are derived from juice. 

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