Food flavour is one of the great interests because consumers are demanding better tasting foods made with natural ingredients. Flavour industry originated in the latter half of the 19th century with essential oil distillation and botanical extraction as the main sources of raw materials. Flavour is the sensory impression of the food or other substance, and is determined mainly by chemical senses. Flavour of the food can be altered with natural or artificial flavourants. These are substances that give another substance flavour, altering the characteristics of solute, causing it to become sweet, sour and tangy.
Flavour characteristics include smelling and tasting the target food will give the flavourist a good idea of which aroma characteristics are important. Primary characters are essential to the recognition of the target food. They constitute the basic skeleton of the flavour. Good examples are ‘violet’ (??-ionone) in raspberries and ‘clove’ (eugenol) in bananas. It is impossible to create a realistic flavour without some contribution from these notes.
Secondary characters are not essential for recognition but contribute an optional descriptive characteristic. Good examples are ‘leaf green’ (cis-3-hexenol) in strawberries and ‘dried’ (2-methylbutyric acid) in apricots. In both cases it is perfectly possible to make good, authentic flavours without these notes. Their effect is simply to vary the type of flavour to green strawberries and dried apricots, respectively.
Flavouring agents include flavour substances, flavour extracts or flavour preparations capable of imparting flavour properties namely taste or odour or both to food.
? Natural Flavours - preparations & single substances respectively, acceptable for human consumption, obtained exclusively by physical processes from vegetable, sometimes animal, raw material either in their natural state or processed for human consumption.
? Nature-identical flavouring substances are substances chemically isolated from aromatic raw materials or obtained synthetically; they are chemically identical to substances present in natural products intended for human consumption, either processed or not.
? Artificial flavouring substances are those substances which have not yet been identified in natural products intended for human consumption, either processed or not.
? Use of antioxidants, emulsifying and stabilising agents and food preservatives in flavour. The flavouring agents may contain permitted antioxidants, emulsifying and stabilising agents and food preservatives.
? Use of anticaking agent in flavours: Synthetic Amorphous Silicon Dioxide may be used in powder flavouring substances to a maximum level of 2 per cent. Different forms of flavours are water-soluble liquid, clear water-soluble liquid , oil-soluble liquid, emulsion based flavour, dispersed flavour and spray dried flavour.
Natural Spices & Herbs used to enhance flavour namely Bayleaf, Asafoetida, Clove, Cardamom, Black Pepper, Pandan Leaf Extract are widely used in India. Oil based - orange oil, Oleoresins - Vanilla, Orange, Black Pepper, Peri Peri, Mint Flavour, Cherry, Lemon, Mango and so on, Salt being the most important ingredient. To develop a natural flavour, flavour chemists are given a target flavour profile and the food application it will be used in. They must then identify the natural volatile compounds in plant or animal ingredients that contribute to the desired taste and extract the compounds using water, ethanol or fermentation. These flavour extracts can then be mixed and matched with each other to create the final preferred flavour profile.
Artificiality is usually understood as that which is man-made and is in contraposition to the natural. Label artificial flavours mean that your food could have any number of chemical additives in it giving it a certain flavour. But also remember that those chemical compounds are exactly the same as those that would be present if natural flavours were used, the source is just different!
E.g., artificial fruit flavour – Strawberry, Banana, Orange flavour, Chocolate flavour, Berry flavour and so on.
The primary difference between natural and artificial flavours is the source of the chemical compound. Natural and artificial flavour compounds have identical molecular structure, but artificial flavours are created in a lab, rather than isolated from food ingredients. Natural and artificial flavours often taste different because natural flavours include hundreds of compounds that contribute to complex flavour profiles, while artificial flavours pinpoint the most prevalent compounds to create less expensive and less complex flavours that still taste similar to their natural counterparts. Since both natural and artificial flavourings are added to foods for flavour purposes rather than for nutritional purposes.
There are some regulations to be followed when flavouring agent is used in food products:
[FSSAI Packaging & Labelling Requirements]
? Flavours added to food should comply with Good Manufacturing Practices [GMP].
? Added flavours must be mentioned in capital letters on the label.
? When artificial flavours are used one must mention the common name of the flavour.
? Natural flavours or nature-identical flavours must mention the class name of flavours.
? Restrictions on use of some flavouring agents such as Coumarin & dihydrocoumarin, Tonka Bean, Ethyl Methyl Ketone, Eugenyl methyl ether, Ethyl-3-Phenylglycidate, Methyl ß naphthyl Ketone, ß-asarone and Cinamyl, Estragole, P.Propylanisole and Thujone and Isothujone a & ß thujone.
? Addition of flavours need not be mentioned in the list of ingredients. Also, in addition to the above statement, the common name or class name of the flavour shall also be mentioned on label.
? In case of artificial flavouring substances, the label shall declare the common name of the flavours, but in case of the natural flavouring substances or nature-identical flavouring substances, the class name of flavours shall be mentioned on the label and it shall comply with the requirement of label declaration as specified under the regulation.
? When combined declaration of colours and flavours are given, the International Numerical Identification number of colours used shall also be indicated either under the list of ingredients or along with the declaration.
Why use flavours in your solid food or drinks?
Research study has been done on the influence of flavour enhancement on food liking and consumption in older adults with poor, moderate or high cognitive status.
Indeed, these patients may reduce their food intake, which can be explained by a lack of pleasure in eating food. Few studies have tested the efficiency of strategies based on food pleasure to increase food intake in this population. The influence of flavour enhancement has been widely investigated in non-cognitively impaired older adults, but not in those with cognitive impairments. Two food testing methods were compared: paired comparison and sequential monadic tests.
Food intake and food liking were then evaluated with respect to each participant and each sample.
The results showed a positive correlation between food liking and food intake, and a positive influence of flavour enhancement on food intake, regardless of the cognitive status of the participants.
Flavour enhancers can be used for increased food intake and people with less appetite, especially among older persons to improve their food intake and body weight. Flavour enhancers can be part of a healthy diet when used in moderation.
(The author is senior quality assurance executive at food and beverage department in Café Coffee Day, Mumbai. She can be contacted at norinafernz1004@gmail.com)