If something contains any form of cane sugar, beet sugar, or artificial sugar, I do not buy it at all.
If it contains canola, corn, or soybean, I don’t buy it.
If it contains ANY artificial flavors or synthetic food dyes, I definitely don’t touch it with a ten foot pole.
But what about “natural flavors”? What do I do with that?
First, let’s look at what “natural flavors” are according to the FDA:
“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. Natural flavors, include the natural essence or extractives obtained from plants listed in subpart A of part 582 of this chapter, and the substances listed in 172.510 of this chapter.”
>>>Did you know that most “natural flavor” is just food-grade essential oils?!?!
Yep.
In fact, soda and tea companies are the largest purchasers of citrus essential oils as these are the source of their “natural flavors.”
Don’t believe that?
My friend’s husband is in charge of blending the recipes for every single box of herbal tea sold in North AND South America for a major tea company and he verified they are 100% indeed essential oils.
If “blueberry flavor” is listed, it’s from blueberries.
(Notice the “similar” wording in the FDA’s description of natural flavors.)
Another “natural flavor” can be yeast flavoring which there is some debate as to whether this can be a naturally-occurring form of MSG which many wisely try to avoid.
And then what about beaver anal glands being a food flavor? Have you heard of this castoreum ingredient?!Jamie Oliver and Vani aka The Food Babe got a lot of attention for telling people that their food flavors could be from beaver butt.
There are a couple of things wrong with that information.
This flavoring ingredient is expensive. It’s cheaper for food manufacturers to just use real fruit flavor.
Due to increased cost, the use of this ingredient has almost completely diminished from commercial food production.
Because of these things, the chances of beaver anal gland flavoring being in your food is highly unlikely.
So what do I do? While I’m extremely selective about what my family eats, “natural flavors” is generally not one I’m concerned about and buy multiple products containing it.
The things where I’ve thought it could be of concern are highly processed products that also contain at least one of the other ingredients I avoid (usually a GMO oil or sugar) which is when I wouldn’t trust the natural flavor.
I may be more restrictive than many in our food choices and I may be less restrictive than others. I find balance in being careful to avoid the non-negotiables like those I listed above and not worrying about “natural flavors” in most things.