Friday, January 7, 2011

Flavorings in Tea, by Flavoring Manufacturer Definition


As I prepare to set off to the Sustainable Food Convention in San Francisco next week, I thought to post something revelvant to this. But instead, or somewhat off this path but not too much, I have decided to post a very hot topic in what you need to know when you venture in to creating your own private label tea or custom tea blend with flavors, especially if you are going in to the area of organic or natural OR 100% organic.


Below is a list of definitions of flavoring categories provided by the manufacturers of flavors to the coffee and tea industry:

Artificial Flavor: A flavor derived from 100% synthetic (man-made) ingredients.

Natural & Artificial Flavor: A flavor derived from both natural ingredients and synthetic ingredients.

Natural Flavor: An example of this natural flavor would be entitled "Natural Apple Flavor". This indicates the product consists of ingredients only derived from apples.

Natural WONF: An example of this natural flavor would be entitled "Natural Apple WONF". This indicates the flavor contains at least one ingredient derived from apples and also contains other natural ingredients which replicate and apple taste. The WONF term is short for "with other natural flavors".

Natural Type Flavor: An example of this natural flavor would be entitled " Natural Apple Type Flavor". This indicates the flavor contains 100% natural ingredients. However, none are derived from an apple but the taste and aroma replicate an apple.

Organic compliant flavors can be any of the last three natural flavors. The difference is the ingredients cannot be derived from sewerage sludge or irradiated. Also. no synthetic solvent can be used in the manufacture of any ingredient. No synthetic solvent can be used as a carrier in the flavor system.

If some one is really concerned about the presence of chemicals then they should use organic blends where all the ingredients meet the requirement. One reason that the natural flavor category distinction has less relevance for non-organic products is that people mistakenly assume the rest of the “natural” ingredients in a non-organic blend such as tea, hibiscus etc are pesticide and chemical residue free which is not true. Therefore to fixate on only the flavor portion of it which is usually about two to three percent of a total blend, is not as useful as people think.

-Desiree Nelson
QTrade Teas and Herbs
Business Development
949 766 0070 x525
desiree@qtradeteas.com

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