Culinology - March 2018 - 24

INGREDIENT trends

What are artificial ingredients?

HPP technology, often used
for juicing, is recognized as
a minimal process.
Photo credit: Ingredion

24 |

There are only four categories of ingredients - colors, flavors, preservatives and
sweeteners - that FDA provides, directly
or indirectly, guidance to their naturalness.
Beyond the four categories, it's up to marketers to navigate the target consumer's expectations for the natural designation.
The category of flavors is the only one that
specifically uses "natural" language. Based
on the raw materials used in manufacturing,
flavors are identified as artificial or natural
and must be labeled as such on ingredient
statements.
The FDA does not qualify any preservative as natural, but it does define chemical
preservatives. These are any chemicals that
when added to food tend to prevent or retard
deterioration. Ingredients excluded from this
list include common salt, sugars, vinegars,
spices or oils extracted from spices, as well
as substances added to food by direct exposure, for example, wood smoke.
Plant-based extracts, such as rosemary,
green tea, acerola and celery, as well as
fermented ingredients such as vinegar, lactic acid, cultured sugar or dextrose, are
considered natural options for
preservation (and curing in
meat), according to Dave
Charest, vice-president, meat industry,
Corbion, Lenexa,
Kan.
With sweeteners, the
language is
different.
The FDA
does not
impose the
descriptor
of artificial
to any
sweetener,
rather, there
are six highintensity sweeteners - acesulfame potassium,
advantame, aspartame, neotame, saccharin and sucralose - that are
approved as food additives in the

Culinology | MARCH 2018

US. Even though they are not legally classified
as artificial sweeteners, the descriptor has
become common language.
Colors are more confusing. Any ingredient
with the sole purpose of adding color to a
food or beverage is a color additive, with all
color additives requiring approval by FDA as
a food additive. The FDA classifies color additives as either "certified" or "exempt from
certification." The former is also commonly
referred to as artificial or synthetic; and the
latter, by default, is often characterized as
natural. But again, these are commonly accepted terms, not legal descriptors.
Culinologists must be aware that FDA does
not consider any color added to a food as
being natural, unless the color is natural to
the product itself. For example, a strawberry
dessert sauce colored with strawberry extract may be labeled "all-natural," providing
that none of the other ingredients in the sauce
were characterized as artificial. Such a description would not be possible if beet juice,
an FDA-recognized color additive, was used
for a colorful boost. Label claims of "free from
synthetic colors" or "colored with vegetable
juice" are possible.
Navigating natural in the meat and poultry sector is a little different than the rest of
food and beverage, as the US Department of
Agriculture offers guidance, albeit, somewhat
confusing and at times even misleading. The
agency specifies that meat and poultry products may be labeled natural if they are minimally processed and don't have any artificial
flavorings, colorings, preservatives or other
additives.
"One thing we have seen in the research is
consumers are not just looking at the ingredients listed in their product," said Courtney
Schwartz, senior marketing communications
manager, Kemin Food Technologies, Des
Moines, Iowa. "They are interested and concerned with all aspects of the production of
these products. From animal welfare to raw
material/ingredient sourcing to sustainability.
This relates back to the need for total transparency from food manufacturers."

The new natural
Natural has become much more than void
of artificial, which is why there's been an upsurge of litigation in the past few years challenging the use of the term in food marketing.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Culinology - March 2018