What is a flavor?

A Certified Flavorist’s Definition of a “Flavor”

Ever wonder where all the flavor comes from when you're chewing that tasty piece of gum, sipping on your favorite tea or beer or snacking on your favorite candy? Flavors are in a plethora of foods, beverages, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, candies and more and are the superstars in products, responsible for making them iconic and memorable. So, what is a flavor? Where do they come from? How are they made and used? This month, we turned to abelei’s own Judith Michalski, a certified flavorist with over 30 years of experience in the flavor industry, to answer this popular question.

“A flavor is a composition of any and all of these types of GRAS listed ingredients: chemicals derived from natural and synthetic materials obtained via fermentation, distillation, concentration, etc. and includes all chemical classes like esters, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, pyrazines, etc. and mixtures thereof; plant sources like flowers, roots, stems, bark, buds and includes their oils, extracts, absolutes, oleoresins, distillates, exudates and essences; animal sources like bees, cows, etc.; and anything else that the FDA deems fit for use in food.”

Flavor Types

There are different types of flavors as well, flavors are usually labelled as:

1. Natural,
2. Natural WONF,
3. Natural Type,
4. Natural & Artificial and
5. Artificial.

Check out our blog on Organic flavors here!

Natural flavors are composed of naturally derived flavor ingredients. If the materials are all derived from the label name (in “Natural Mango Flavor” the label name being “Mango”), it can be called a Natural Flavor. For example, Natural Mango Flavor where all ingredients are derived from mango. If this flavor were to contain some naturally derived material(s) not from the label name, it can be called Natural Mango Flavor WONF (with other natural flavors). If there isn’t any of the named (mango derived) material present, though all the ingredients are still from natural sources, the label can read Natural Type or Natural Flavor for, Natural Mango Type Flavor or Natural Flavor for Mango.

Natural & Artificial flavors must contain at least one component of the label name. So a Natural & Artificial Mango Flavor must contain a mango-derived material. An Artificial Mango Flavor needn’t contain anything at all from that fruit, nor anything that is naturally derived.

Below is an example of a Mango flavor formula. Since this flavor contains nothing from mango, its label is Natural Mango Type Flavor.

Note the natural status of the FEMA* / GRAS listed ingredients, and the very small percentages of most of the ingredients. The small amounts are used because they are very strong and will have a large impact in the final flavor and its application. In this case, Propylene Glycol is the carrier, AKA solvent or diluent. This flavor can be used in an end product that makes a Natural label claim.

167a08 Natural Mango Type Flavor
Seq #	Internal #	Ingredient Description	Natural or Artificial	%	FEMA #
1.00	XXXXX	Davana Oil	Natural	0.395	2359
2.00	XXXXX	Phenylacetic Acid	Natural	0.100	2878
3.00	XXXXX	Maltol	Natural	0.279	2656
4.00	XXXXX	Gamma Decalactone	Natural	1.395	2360
5.00	XXXXX		Natural	0.930
6.00	XXXXX	Ethyl Butyrate	Natural	4.651	2427
7.00	XXXXX		Natural	0.233
8.00	XXXXX	Benzaldehyde	Natural	0.465	2127
9.00	XXXXX	Orange Oil Valencia 5X	Natural	0.465	2825
10.00	XXXXX		Natural	0.233
11.00	XXXXX	Decanal	Natural	0.250	2362
12.00	XXXXX	Propylene Glycol	Natural	90.604	2940
		Total		100.000

abelei senior flavorist, Judith Michalski became a certified flavorist in 1985. In addition to professionally practicing her artistry, she continues to train and mentor younger flavorists. For 10 years now, Judith has authored an article in Perfumer & Flavorist magazine.

Invite abelei flavors into your next development project! We'd love to help!

If you are presently in need of great flavors for your next food, beverage or nutraceutical development project, please call us (847-924-5855) or click here to request a sample.

* “The Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association of the United States (FEMA) assesses the safety and GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status of flavor ingredients as described in the 1958 Food Additives Amendments to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the Federal law governing the regulation of flavors and other food ingredients.”

P.S. If you are interested in a flavor topic on which you would like a great understanding, please email tgooding@abelei.com with details of your request. We will send you a thoughtful reply, and your topic could be the seed of a future blog post.