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Manufacturers Are Fooling You with the Term “Natural Flavors”
When you think of natural, a vision of green things, fresh air, sunshine, and all things healthy might come to mind. It’s a word with a positive connotation, so it’s no wonder manufacturers love placing this word on food and personal care products, often with a graphic of a tree or leaf.
They hope that people will look more favorably upon their product when they say those words. Plus, you’ll be more likely to toss it in your grocery cart!
The word natural may be in the ingredient list of packaged products too. If you look closely at the ingredients in some packaged foods, you’ll spot the term “natural flavors.”
Seeing that word might give you a good impression of that product, but as with most things, when you dig deeper, things aren’t always as they appear on the label. This includes natural flavors, a term you see on lots of packaged foods. Let’s look at how the FDA defines the term natural flavors:
“A natural flavor comes from 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…
