I thought these labels were intended for disclosure reasons, but as I drink my concentrate Nestea iced tea, I realize it may be as “natural” as drinking petrol, maggots, or human by-products.
What gives?
as in soylent GREEN
We covered a similar question about 10 days ago:
Fruit2O and “Naturalness”
Natural and artificial flavors are designations allowed by the FDA to protect proprietary recipes, as long as they represent less than 2% of the total, if memory serves. The difference between them, I believe, is nothing more than “natural” flavors must be compounds that at one time started out their lives in a real world substance, while “artificial” flavors are completely laboratory made. Much can be done to “natural” flavors before they reach the food processing plant.
Some people can be allergic to natural flavors and need to contact the manufacturers to ensure that milk, e.g., is not a base for them. Most firms will be happy to say yes or no to this without going into detail about what is actually there.
For the most part, though, I don’t get too excited about natural or artificial flavors. They’re certainly no worse for you than some of the things that do get reported on the ingredients labels.