To check or enhance the flavor and aroma of foods (such as candies, chewing gum, ice cream, chocolates, jellies, yogurts, cakes, etc.), medicines, cosmetics and perfumes; making them more like the natural one, the chemical industry uses many flavoring additives that are called flavoring. This word comes from English flavor, which means “aroma”.
Strictly speaking, flavorings confer and enhance the aroma, whereas flavorings confer and enhance the aroma and flavor.
According to the definition given by the Brazilian Legislation (Resolution No. 104, of May 14, 1999 of ANVISA), flavoring they are:
“Substances or mixtures of substances with odoriferous and/or taste properties, capable of conferring or intensifying the aroma and/or flavor of foods. This definition excludes products that confer exclusively a sweet, salty or sour taste; and food substances or products normally consumed as such, with or without reconstitution”.
Most flavorings are organic substances from the ester group. As stated above, flavorings can be just one substance or they can be a mixture of two or more compounds that give rise to a new aroma, as the esters below exemplify:
- Ethyl butanoate: strawberry essence;
- Butyl Ethanoate: Raspberry essence;
- Methyl benzoate: kiwi essence;
- Isobutyl propanoate: essence of rum;
- Benzyl Ethanoate: jasmine essence;
- Ethyl nonanoate: rose essence;
- Ethyl methanoate + heptanoate: grape essence.
There are both natural and artificial flavorings. The natural ones are safer for consumption, however, since the artificial ones are more economically viable, because the more delicate flavors and aromas are complex mixtures that are difficult to extract from fruits or flowers, they are more used. To cite an example, natural strawberry flavoring is a mixture of over 100 substances. Therefore, since the food is industrially produced, the market value is more concerned with the nutritional value.
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As a result, the legislation created norms for the use of these artificial substances in food, such as those specified by the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA), mentioned above.
Thus, on some labels of these products there is the letter F, which indicates that there are flavorings or flavorings. This letter is followed by Roman numerals that indicate the type of flavoring, as can be understood below:
F I: natural essences;
F II: artificial essences;
F III: aromatic plant extract;
F IV: chemically defined flavoring.
In addition, the aroma used must appear on the label written in full, as in the figure below:
By Jennifer Fogaça
Graduated in Chemistry
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
FOGAÇA, Jennifer Rocha Vargas. "Flavorings"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/quimica/aromatizantes.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
