Flavouring substances and flavourings

Flavourings are products that are added to food to give it a particular smell and/or taste. A flavouring may consist of numerous flavouring substances, flavouring preparations, thermal process flavourings, smoke flavourings and flavour precursors. Most flavourings are used industrially in food production, but some flavourings are also available in retail outlets, e.g. baking flavourings such as rum or bitter almond flavourings.

Flavouring substances are chemically defined substances with flavouring properties that are used to produce flavourings. A distinction is made between natural, nature-identical and artificial flavouring substances. So far, around 10,000 flavouring substances have been identified in nature, of which about 2,500 are used to produce flavourings. Flavourings are volatile chemical compounds. In Germany, artificial flavourings were previously regarded as additives requiring authorisation. According to the now valid European Regulation (EC) No. 1334/2008, no distinction is made between natural, nature-identical and artificial flavourings when it comes to authorisation. However, special requirements apply to the use of the term ‘natural’ in food labelling.

Natural flavourings are produced from plant, animal or microbiological source materials using physical, enzymatic or microbiological processes, e.g. by extraction and distillation. Examples: vanillin from vanilla pods and L-menthol from peppermint plants.

Nature-identical flavourings are chemically (synthetically) manufactured and are chemically the same as a natural flavouring. Examples: vanillin and L-menthol.

Artificial flavourings are obtained by chemical synthesis and do not occur naturally in food. Example: ethyl vanillin.

Flavouring preparations are obtained by physical, enzymatic or microbiological processes either from food or from substances of vegetable, animal or microbiological origin that are not food. They are complex mixtures of substances whose composition can vary depending on the raw materials used.

Example: essential oils such as citrus, aniseed or fennel oil.

Reaction flavours are obtained by controlled heating of a mixture of different ingredients, which do not necessarily have flavouring properties themselves. As with baking and frying, roasting flavours are created in the process. Important starting substances are nitrogen (e.g. from protein building blocks) and a reducing sugar (e.g. glucose).

Smoke flavourings are produced from smoke generated by traditional methods of smoking food. To do this, certain types of wood are burned under controlled conditions (temperature, air supply, etc.). The smoke is introduced into water, fractionated and cleaned. This process yields ‘primary smoke condensates’, which are used to produce smoke flavourings with the help of carriers. These are incorporated directly into the food or applied to the surface by dipping or spraying. The flavour-giving components of smoke flavourings are mainly phenols and carbonyl compounds (aldehydes and ketones). However, the smoke also contains undesirable substances, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons like benzo[a]pyrene. The amount of such substances in smoke flavourings is limited by law and can be kept low by controlled manufacturing conditions.

Carrier substances

Many flavourings are very flavour-intensive. They are difficult to process in concentrated form. Therefore, carriers such as alcohol, starch or lactose are used for dilution, and these are then mixed with the flavourings. According to the flavouring manufacturers, up to 0.2% alcohol may be present in the processed ready-to-eat foods (source: German Association of the Flavouring Industry, External Link:www.aromenhaus.de).

Flavourings are evaluated by international expert committees. At the EU level, the evaluation is carried out by the European Food Safety Authority (External Link:EFSA) Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids (CEF). This task was previously carried out by the EU Commission's Scientific Committee on Food (SCF). At the global level, flavourings are evaluated by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (External Link:JECFA) of the United Nations Food and Health Organisations. Until a few years ago, there was also a corresponding expert committee of the Council of Europe.

The evaluation programme adopted by Regulation (EC) No 1565/2000 in 2000 was initially started as a scientific cooperation between the Member States of the EC and was later continued by the EFSAshort forEuropean Food Safety Authority CEF Panel. BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment scientists have been involved in the health assessments since the programme began.

The task of the BfR is to evaluate specific issues related to flavouring substances and to advise the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity (BMLEH), which is involved at the EU level in the creation or modification of corresponding regulations. This also includes the examination of proposals from the EU Commission on maximum levels for certain flavouring substances in food. For specific questions, BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment may seek advice from a commission (External Link:https://www.bfr.bund.de/en/bfr_commission_for_food_additives__flavourings_and_processing_aids-23384.html) of external experts.