What are Natural Flavors?

One thing that I always look out for in my food is the presence of natural flavors.  You might picture me with my cart full of carefully selected frozen dinners or boxes of granola.  Well, thankfully that is not the case.  Where one might least expect it is where you find it.  A good example is tea.  Now there are so many brands of high quality tea out there.  As I read the labels there are maybe two or three brands that don't have natural flavors.  Many of the brands that do are labeled organic and charge a premium.  According to the government rules about organic, "natural flavors" are allowed.  So what are natural flavors, you ask?  I will not bore you with and explanation.  Instead, I provide you with a link to this eye-opening segment from 60 minutes.

What strikes me most about this story is how much effort these people go through to mimic the flavors of biodiversity.  There is a moment that one of the scientists opens her cabinet full of only different varieties of raspberry flavor.  It is almost comical.  When we lose biodiversity of taste because of commoditization we are left with a cabinet full of little bottles to mimic them.

60 minutes- The Flavorists


Feel free to post any thoughts you have on the blog.

Washington's and D.C.'s all natural , artisan made, GE Food Label bills

Last month in DC a new bill was introduced by Senator Barbara Boxer(D-CA) and Rep. Peter De Fazio(D-OR) to label all  genetically engineered foods including the tons of "food" made with GE grains and the brand new, right out of the box, GE salmon.  Not surprisingly, two Senators from Alaska are on board for labeling salmon.

There are also eight other co-sponsors for the bill in the Senate and almost two dozen in the House.  Does this mean the bill has a good chance of passing?   The fact that nine out of ten Americans support labeling may not mean much, especially when Congress sees large amounts of cash coming their way from big ag. On the bright side, it at least shows that they are paying attention.  It remains to be seen whether this is merely a reaction to the enormous amount of vocal support against GMO's (i.e. phone calls) that has been coming out of California and Oregon or that there really is enough national support to push a bill through.

In Washington state last month the legislature failed to vote on “The People’s Right to know Genetically Engineered Food Act” which means that the vote goes to the public as a ballot measure.  The initiative is similar to California's failed Prop 37, except there is no prohibition for the terms "Natural" and "All Natural" currently being used on food labels.

Now this is somewhat of sticking point for many people.  What exactly is natural anyway?

Everything in nature is "natural".  Not all of it is good for you.  Many prepared foods are labeled all natural although they have been transformed from their natural state and possibly had not so natural "natural flavors" added to them. One could argue the term and others such as "artisan" have been used in such misleading ways as to render them meaningless.  My personal favorite is "artisan made" which is so blatantly redundant I'm stupefied by the marketing genius that came up with this.

We may get some type of labeling for GMO's even though as I write this Monsanto emerges victorious in the Supreme Court case, Bowman vs. Monsanto. So, there are sure to be more lawsuits from their super-lawyers if these labeling bills pass. One has to be in awe of the power and money at stake here. Patenting life is big business. And although the Supreme Court ruling written by Justice Kagan follows the law, the ethics of this type of patent is another matter entirely; one that many do not agree with.  If you want to learn more about this convoluted case, check out The Washington Post article and feel free to post any comments on the blog.  I'm always curious to hear other's understanding of these things.

Next week I'll be digging deeper into the natural flavors industry,talking about what exactly they are and why it is a direct link to the purpose of this blog that aims to help preserve biodiversity.