This is a story about artificial flavours for products:
http://www.rense.com/general7/whyy.htmIt's interesting that many manufactured/processed foods have no real flavour of their own, and all the flavour comes from the added chemicals. I try my best to eat unprocessed/organic food, when possible, to avoid this stuff, but even those aren't immune.
This is one thing that pisses me off as a vegan:
The federal Food and Drug Administration does not require companies to disclose the ingredients of their color or flavor additives so long as all the chemicals in them are considered by the agency to be GRAS ("generally recognized as safe").
What it basically means is that anything with "natural flavour" or "artificial flavour" on the list of ingredients may not be vegan (or vegetarian).
And this is kind of an eye opener:
A typical artificial strawberry flavor, like the kind found in a Burger King strawberry milk shake, contains the following ingredients: amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl valerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, ethyl acetate, ethyl amyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, ethyl nitrate, ethyl propionate, ethyl valerate, heliotropin, hydroxyphenyl-2-butanone (10 percent solution in alcohol), a-ionone, isobutyl anthranilate, isobutyl butyrate, lemon essential oil, maltol, 4-methylacetophenone, methyl anthranilate, methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate, methyl heptine carbonate, methyl naphthyl ketone, methyl salicylate, mint essential oil, neroli essential oil, nerolin, neryl isobutyrate, orris butter, phenethyl alcohol, rose, rum ether, g-undecalactone, vanillin, and solvent.
The distinction between a "natural flavour" and a "artificial flavour" is discussed, as well:
"A natural flavor," says Terry Acree, a professor of food science at Cornell University, "is a flavor that's been derived with an out-of-date technology." Natural flavors and artificial flavors sometimes contain exactly the same chemicals, produced through different methods. Amyl acetate, for example, provides the dominant note of banana flavor. When it is distilled from bananas with a solvent, amyl acetate is a natural flavor. When it is produced by mixing vinegar with amyl alcohol and adding sulfuric acid as a catalyst, amyl acetate is an artificial flavor. Either way it smells and tastes the same.
Toward the end, they present the whole thing in a very positive light, talking about how the different combinations of flavours is very poetic, and it's almost like composing music: the flavours need to be combined to have a strong "high note" with an undertone and a levelling off. A funny way of thinking about it, really.
Oh, and here's a pleasant thought:
In France, for example, fries are sometimes cooked in duck fat or horse tallow.
And in the US, there is an unnamed animal source in their french fries as well.
Not to mention:
One of the most widely used color additives -- whose presence is often hidden by the phrase "color added" -- violates a number of religious dietary restrictions, may cause allergic reactions in susceptible people, and comes from an unusual source. Cochineal extract (also known as carmine or carminic acid) is made from the desiccated bodies of female Dactylopius coccus Costa, a small insect harvested mainly in Peru and the Canary Islands.
Anyway, it's a really interesting (and somewhat scary) article.
