The Codex Alimentarius defines flavoring substances as being chemically defined: they may he produced by chemical synthesis or are obtained from materials of plant or animal origin.
This category is subdivided accordingly into natural flavoring substances and synthetic flavoring substances.
Flavorings have a long history of safe use in a wide variety of foods, from confectionary and soft drinks to cereals, cakes, and yoghurts.
Many flavoring substances in common use were listed as GRAS shortly after passage of the 1958Food Additive Amendment.
Regulations designed to ensure that a flavor mixture is safe to consume have generally developed around the concept of creating ‘positive lists’ of allowed safe ingredients.
Further evaluation of flavors is now done by the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers’ Association Expert Panel, a group of independent scientists which investigates the safety of flavoring substances in foods under conditions of intended use.
The safety evaluation of flavoring agents presents a special challenge. Flavoring substances are generally consumed in low amounts, but there are several thousand individual flavoring substances in commercial use worldwide.
There is general agreement that the stances shall only be used of an evaluation has concluded that their use in food does not pose a risk to the consumer at the estimated levels of intake.
Food flavors and food safety
