What Exactly Is "natural Flavoring"

kathy1 · January 7, 2006

OK, obviously it is not natural if we need to be concerned about gluten . A "natural flavor" should be ....well.....natural,... right!! I am thinking that in Tomatoe soup for example, natural flavorings would be the flavor of the tomatoes. I am very confused by this. How do we know if natural flavoring has gluten or it doesnt?

I am hoping that someone understands this better than me. Thanks!

Mango04 · January 7, 2006

This is all I can find:

The exact definition of natural flavorings & flavors from Title 21, Section 101, part 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations is as follows:

"The term natural flavor or natural flavoring means the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring 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 significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional."

In other words, natural flavors can be pretty much anything approved for use in food.

How unhelpful is that? I don't know why "natural flavors" is an acceptable ingredient in food. It sure does make our lives more complicated. Hopefully the new food allergen labeling bills will help out a little. I'm sure others will have some better insight.

January 7, 2006

Natural flavours are also things like malt (which is barley) and toasted wheat germ, which of course is wheat. And that's where the gluten comes in. So one must check to see what the flavour is derived from. For instance, a lot of chocolate has malt flavouring. Some herbal teas has toasted wheat germ. Companies like Kraft will tell you what their flavouring is made from, but not all companies do.

kathy1 · January 7, 2006

So, If I am understanding correctly, if natural flavorings is listed and the company is on the LIST of companys that don't hide Gluten, then Gluten will clearly be listed on the label? If the company it is not on the LIST then I would need to do more research, such as calling the company to determine if their Natural flavoring contains gluten?

it is all so confusing???? how do you ever get it straight???? i feel as if I need to go to the market with my huge pile of print outs/ notes to figure everything out.

VydorScope · January 7, 2006

kathy1 said:
So, If I am understanding correctly, if natural flavorings is listed and the company is on the LIST of companys that don't hide Gluten, then Gluten will clearly be listed on the label? If the company it is not on the LIST then I would need to do more research, such as calling the company to determine if their Natural flavoring contains gluten?
it is all so confusing???? how do you ever get it straight???? i feel as if I need to go to the market with my huge pile of print outs/ notes to figure everything out.

We actully do bring a list of notes with us, but we reraly need to look at it anymore. You just get uesd to what is safe to buy, and stick to that.

As for your question about the list, yes. thats exactly right.

January 7, 2006

Yes, you've understood correctly It does seem mind boggling doesn't it? But have faith, you will soon learn the companies to trust and will find shopping a lot easier. Thankfully Craft covers a lot of products. Hershey and Cadbury are also good in listing everything. And if you are living in the States, that new law is going to help tremendously even though they are listing just wheat for the time being. Unfortunately Canada is behind in making their companies responsible for proper labeling.

celiac3270 · January 8, 2006

All that really matters with this is that natural flavors may contain gluten, so you need to verify with the company. I hate these generalizations, such as food starch, natural flavors, artificial flavors, or even just "flavors." We need to call for all of them.

Merika · January 10, 2006

The hidden world of natural flavors.....did you know that chicken flavor (from chickens) is a common ingredient in "vegetarian chicken flavor fake-meats"? Hahahaha, so all those vegetarians out there eating all their fake meat and fake sausages, and tofu-dogs with "meat flavor" are actually consuming animals???

Merika

long-time vegetarian and abstainer from faux-foods.

debmidge · January 10, 2006

That reminds me of the Indian woman I worked with who did not eat meat. Her Dept. ordered plain pizza from an real Italian pizzeria (not Dominos, etc.) and she wanted a slice. When I saw her she was already in the middle of eating it and I didn't have the heart to tell her that some sauces contain the drippings from the meat and that the pizza could possibly have essence of meat in it. Some Italians fry their meat (meatballs and sausage and bracole) first, then use the drippings to start the sauce. The subject never came up and I didn't say anything. That just shows also how if you don't know how a food is prepared, you're in the dark. She was assuming that by a "plain cheese" pizza she was avoiding meat.