How do artificial flavors actually function?

In many of the packaged foods you purchase today, you'll spot 'artificial flavors' listed as a primary ingredient. These artificial flavors are essentially blends of chemicals that are crafted to imitate a natural taste. They're commonly found in a variety of products like sodas, sweets, baked goods, ice cream, snack foods, salad dressings, sauces, and energy drinks.

Natural vs. Artificial Flavors

Natural flavors or flavorings are derived from food sources like fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices. These flavors capture the essence of these ingredients using various extraction techniques, delivering familiar and distinctive tastes.

Natural flavors are usually quite intricate, involving numerous chemicals working together to produce the taste and aroma. However, it turns out that many flavors, especially fruit flavors, are dominated by just one or a few key chemicals that convey most of the taste and smell. These chemicals are known as esters.

For instance, the ester octyl acetate (CH₃COOC₈H₁₇) is a key component of orange flavor, while isoamyl acetate (CH₃COOC₅H₁₁) plays a central role in the flavor of bananas.

By adding these esters to a product, it will take on some characteristics of orange or banana flavor. To replicate a more authentic taste, you can introduce other chemicals in the right amounts, gradually bringing the flavor closer to the natural one. This can be achieved through trial and error or by chemically analyzing the real flavor.

Artificial flavors are man-made additives designed to imitate natural flavors, although they are not directly sourced from food ingredients, such as 'spices, fruits or fruit juices, vegetables or vegetable juices, edible yeast, herbs, bark, buds, roots, leaves, or similar plant material, meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or any fermentation products from these.'

For us to perceive a scent, it must consist of a volatile substance — a chemical that vaporizes and reaches our nose. Once this chemical vapor makes contact with the sensory cells in the nose, it stimulates them. Similarly, for taste, the chemical needs to trigger the taste buds.

Taste is a simpler sense — our tongue can detect only four distinct flavors (sweet, salty, sour, bitter), while the nose can identify thousands of different smells. As a result, most artificial flavoring ingredients have components related to both taste and scent.

Inspect the Ingredient List

Although a food may list an ingredient like maple, the best method for distinguishing between natural and synthetic flavorings is to examine the ingredient list.

As the FDA explains, 'Current regulations permit terms such as 'maple,' 'maple-flavored,' or 'artificially maple-flavored' on product labels, even if they do not contain any maple syrup, as long as they include maple flavoring... To determine if maple products contain real maple syrup, you must check the ingredient list on the packaging.'

The same applies to fruit flavors; you'll want to check if the list includes fruit juice.

What Are Flavoring Agents?

Flavoring agents are substances that are used to enhance or introduce particular tastes and aromas into food and beverages. There are hundreds of known flavoring agents, often combined to create familiar tastes.

While people commonly create artificial flavors like grape, cherry, orange, banana, and apple, it's quite rare to create a flavor that no one has ever encountered before. But it does occasionally happen — take Juicy Fruit gum, for instance!

Flavor Chemists

A flavor chemist, also known as a flavorist, is an expert in the food and beverage industry with specialized skills. They are responsible for creating, developing, and perfecting the flavors and aromas found in various consumer products. Flavor chemists use their expertise in chemistry, sensory perception, and culinary arts to design both artificial and natural flavors that mimic the taste and scent of real ingredients.

Flavor chemists play an essential role in product innovation, quality control, and fulfilling consumer tastes while ensuring compliance with safety regulations and industry standards. Flavorists may work with flavor companies or businesses that specialize in formulating, producing, and supplying a wide range of natural and artificial flavoring compounds to enhance the flavor and aroma of food and beverage items.