At a Glance
The perception of flavor comes with our sense of taste and smell. The choice of food depends on the flavor that our taste buds demand. Our taste bud consists of sensations such as salty, sweet, bitter, sour, and umami. There are generally three types of flavors such as artificial flavor, natural flavor, and herb and spices. Through this blog, we will learn what are artificial flavours and their related components and benefits.
Creating a flavor for a food from scratch is a process of art. Flavors are usually a combination of chemicals. Although it is said that natural flavors are better but nowadays artificial flavors are made with such advanced techniques that both types of flavors have similar chemical structures. The difference between natural and artificial flavors lies in the source of raw materials. Both types of flavors have a similar molecular level and nutritional value.
What are Natural Flavors?
According to the FDA, the chemical flavors that are directly extracted from plants, animals, or the overall components of nature are known as natural flavors. Natural flavors are compounds taken out from dairy products, poultry, seafood, meat, bark, buds, leaves, vegetables, fruits, and spices.
Natural flavors are produced by the common methods of extraction, fermentation, and distillation which makes the process expensive. It can be processed microbiologically or physically. Some of the constituents of Natural flavor are plant extracts such as rose, lavender, vanilla, etc as well as citrus foods like orange, lime, and lemon.
What are Artificial Flavors?
To answer what are artificial flavors, Artificial flavors unline natural flavors, are manufactured in the lab. They are less expensive compared to natural flavors which is why food processors use artificial flavors. It constitutes any substance that is not naturally occurring and is used to give flavor to any food, beverage, or medicine. Artificial flavors are a combination of chemicals that smell and taste like natural flavors.
Through artificial flavors, people get the taste and flavors of one’s choice throughout all seasons and across batches. Artificial flavors give exposure to a wide range of products with varied tastes and smells which would not be possible solely with natural ingredients.
The process of making artificial flavors includes determining the chemical composition, listing down a flavor profile, mixing the synthetic agents in alcohol, glycerol, or propylene glycol, and lastly adding the liquid to products.
Read also: How water additives are transforming the food and beverage industry
Difference Between Natural and Artificial Flavors
| Natural flavors | Artificial flavors |
| Constitutes the chemical combinations extracted directly from plants, animals, and other products of nature | Constitutes the chemical combinations that are created manually in the laboratory. |
| More expensive | Less expensive |
| Extraction is an elaborated process, which is difficult and heavy | Extraction is easy to process, less time-consuming, affordable, and less toxic to the environment. |
Ingredients of Artificial Flavours
To answer the question of how are artificial flavors made, artificial flavors are re-produced by analyzing the chemical composition of the natural substance. Once the chemical composition is determined, the next step is to match the profile of the natural substance to that of the flavor profile.
To understand how artificial flavors are made, we need to learn about what are artificial flavours made of. The usual agents of artificial flavors are ester which has a fruity flavor, alcohol which has a medical or bitter taste, pyrazine and ketone which has the flavor of caramel, terpenoids which have a pine or citrus flavor and phenolics which consist of a smoky flavor, the chemical compound limonene has the flavor of orange, diacetyl gives the flavor of butter, cinnamic aldehyde gives the flavor of cinnamon, isoamyl acetate has the flavor of banana, ethyl vannilin has the vanilla flavor. Combining two or more such chemical compounds can produce a new flavor altogether.
There are also certain chemicals that bring the taste note of certain fruits such as benzaldehyde to almond, citral to lemon, benzyl butyrate to raspberry, ethyl butyrate, and allyl caproate to pineapple.
Glycerol, alcohol, and propylene glycol are combined in a solution along with synthetic flavoring agents to make the flavor of liquor, spirit, or fruit. Artificial food flavor is obtained by combining various compounds that imitate the smell and taste of natural ingredients. To enhance the overall sensory experience of the food, several compounds are responsible such as :
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- Preservatives: Preservatives in artificial flavors increase the shelf life of the products which helps in functionality besides enhancing the taste.
- Artificial flavoring compounds: The core components which is combined and designed carefully to attain the desired profile of the sweet, salty, bitter, or any other flavor.
- Colorants: The visual appearance that is attained by colorants has a psychological effect on the receiver. It helps in perceiving favor and affects the taste or flavor that we expect before taking a bite.
- Aromatic chemicals: aromatic chemicals accompany the flavors by enhancing the smell of the product. It improves the overall sensory experience.
- Sweeteners: sweeteners besides enhancing the taste, also add artificial sweetness without adding extra sugar thus keeping the calories in check. They are a good alternative with low calories or free of sugar.
Uses of Artificial Flavour
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- Medicine, food and beverages include artificial flavors as it is less expensive and safe from a chemical perspective.
- Artificial flavoring is useful in certain industries as it ensures that the product is available at an affordable price along with being safe and reliable. It also helps in keeping medicines effective, and stable.
- It is used in industries such as personal care, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, cosmetics, and nutraceuticals.
- Orally consumed products such as chewing gums, tablets, suspensions, and syrups are made of artificial flavor.
Benefits of Artificial Flavoring
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- Customer demand can be met by using artificial flavoring: There may not be many natural products available in the market of a certain flavor. This is where artificial flavoring comes to the rescue. There are certain flavors that depend on natural sources and cannot be cultivated based on global market size. There arises a need for alternatives to meet the demands of the masses while satisfying the senses of taste and smell.
- Artificial flavoring is affordable: Natural flavoring is usually expensive thus artificial flavoring is a good alternative. This helps in managing costs and covers the price unpredictability of many products. Without the alternative of artificial flavoring, many natural products will face drastic increases in price during its scarcity, which would affect the demand-supply curve of the market.
- Artificial flavoring is renewable: The process of extracting natural flavor is associated with pollution caused by cultivating, processing, and transporting the natural components. As artificial flavoring is produced in the lab, it involves less pollution while processing than natural flavors. Artificial flavors are synthetic materials that are available without heavy processing, and much energy and can be produced in a short period of time.
- Artificial flavoring meets safety protocol: artificial flavors are carefully observed and reviewed from scratch to the final product. By providing the required hygiene and storage facilities, the safest possible result is guaranteed.
Conclusion
The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) usually administers food safety through food additives such as preservatives, natural and artificial flavors, and colors. The food labels do not usually mention the natural and artificial chemicals used for flavoring as they are used in very small amounts, maintaining the safety protocols. Every artificial favor is required to quality in the safety tests before getting approved to proceed further.
It takes a huge effort to invent, formulate, and adapt the flavors. artificial flavors are considered to be safer than natural flavors because of the purification and the consistency that is used in the process which is supervised by law or food producers. In fact, natural flavors consist of certain toxins as they are not as purely and naturally derived as we think them to be. Thus, natural flavors go through heavy investigation and examination before landing in the market.
Elchemy has earned its reputation as one of the most trusted suppliers of chemicals by satisfying the increased market demand. We modify and customize the products according to the change in taste. Identifying the perfect note of the flavor and finding a suitable match can be of challenge. Thus, contact Elchemy to dive into the wide variety of flavors and fragrances and make your product excel with superior quality and stand out of the box.
