A Brief Background Into Food Flavouring
It goes without saying that you can pick a peach or apple off of a tree and enjoy it without any added flavour ingredients, but we no longer live in a world where all food is fresh and organically grown. The majority of consumers regularly eat and purchase processed foods like cereal, pasta, granola bars, chips, and anything else that can be found in the middle rows of the grocery store. All of these products need added flavours in order to offer the desired taste. According to David Andrews, Senior Scientist at EWG, “natural flavour” is the fourth most common ingredient listed in the more than 80,000 foods that EWG has researched.
As Andrews explains, “A great deal of scientific engineering and design time goes into crafting flavours for processed foods. This specialised work is done by professional flavourists who are responsible for the majority of flavours in nearly all food processed in the United States.” The volatile chemicals in each food determine which flavour must be added in order to create a satisfying taste that customers continue to crave.