I’m going to start by asking some questions: When was the last time you looked at the ingredients on a food label? Have you read a “processed” food label; like big brands of biscuits, cereals, or junky snack foods?
Are they ingredients you keep in your pantry at home? Do you even know what all of those ingredients are?
There are so Many artificial ingredients in foods these days, they are filled with chemicals and all sorts of junk. Do you even know what ‘artificial flavour’ means when you read it on a list of ingredients?
It’s like it’s some kind of secret that could destroy the world, when really it’s just that big food companies don’t want their proprietary flavours to be known! So, they’re allowed to say “artificial flavour” and leave the details out.
Just knowing that grinds my gears.
But what makes me more upset is what artificial flavours represent when they’re in the food we consume.
Below I’m going to lay it all out for you!
Why use “artificial flavours’ in a product?
So, you’re making some yummy apple muffins at home right…what do you use to give it the apple flavour?
DUH- Apples!! Like actual REAL, whole, chopped or shredded apples or applesauce.
But, let’s switch it up and say you’re a big food company and you have thousands of apple muffins to make every day. In a factory. On an assembly line.
How would you go about processing the massive amount of apples that need to be chopped, grated or made into applesauce? Would you have a separate “Apple Room” where all the apple processing happens? What if one batch is slightly sweeter, or tastes slightly different from the rest? Don’t you think your customers would taste a difference?
Apples are natural, which of course means the will perish and go bad. How would you guarantee the apples won’t go bad? Heard of the saying ‘it only takes one bad apple to ruin the whole bunch’?
What if you could create an apple flavour that tastes better than using real apples? Something that makes people want to keep buying them every week. Some artificial flavours are even engineered to give an even better taste than the real food!
As you can imagine most companies opt for the easiest and most profitable option, like artificial flavours.
Artificial flavours last longer and are going to be pretty much identical batch after batch after batch. In our apple muffin example above, the artificial flavours used to make the muffin are ready to go, there is no prep involved so no need to peel, cut, or worry about apples going brown, or that they’re not tasting “appley” enough.
Plus it’s way cheaper than using real apples.
Tip: If the package says “flavoured” in the description, then the flavour is artificial. For example, “apple muffin” contains at least some apple. But, “apple flavoured muffin” contains artificial flavour and no apple.
Safety of artificial flavours
While there are countries ban the use of some flavours there are other countries that still allow the use of them.
There is an approved list of flavours that are accepted to be safe, and are used by the food industry. They are considered GRAS, or “generally recognised as safe.”
Even though they may be 100% safe to ingest, the mere fact that an artificial flavour is in food makes it an artificial food. It isn’t a real, whole food. Having an artificial flavour as an ingredient almost guarantees that food is a processed, “food-like product.” More often than not we refer to these as ‘junk’.
Artificial flavours in food indicate that the food, regardless of the marketing, or health claims, is not a healthy choice and probably not the best option for you.
Conclusion
Big food companies use artificial flavours to keep costs low, make the manufacturing process easier, reduce waste and even enhance the flavour of foods way beyond what the natural ingredient would really taste like.
They are not added to improve the “healthiness” or nutrition of the food.
If an artificial flavour is listed amongst the ingredients this indicates that the food is not going to optimize your health. These processed foods are most certainly ‘junk’.
Best option is not to buy foods with them in it, make your own recipes instead.
Recipe All-Natural Apple Muffins- Makes 12
1 cup quick oats, uncooked
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup cooked quinoa
3 tbsp maple syrup
1 cup chopped apples
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Preheat oven to 175 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix the quick oats and cinnamon. Add the quinoa and mix again. Now add maple syrup, apples and eggs, and mix until just combined. Don’t over mix as this will make the muffins dense.
Place 12 muffin papers into a muffin tray. Fill each muffin paper about ⅔ of the way
Place in oven and bake for about 25-30 minutes.
Serve & enjoy!
Tip: Before baking, sprinkle each muffin with a touch of cinnamon for extra (natural) flavour.
References:
https://authoritynutrition.com/9-ways-that-processed-foods-are-killing-people/
https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/121-a126/