More about flavorings

In Denmark, flavorings are covered by the Executive Order on flavorings (Guidelines on flavorings, No. 11436 of August 18, 2000). The Executive Order defines a flavoring as follows:

"A flavoring is a well-defined chemical substance, by contrast with an essential oil, for instance, which is a mixture consisting of many chemical compounds."

In addition, the Executive Order defines how flavorings are to be categorized as natural, chemically identical or synthetic:

Natural

Obtained by appropriate physical processes (including distillation and extraction using a solvent), enzymatic processes or microbiological processes based on a basic material from plants or animals, either in its original state or processed for the purpose of consumption by means of preparation processes commonly used to make foodstuffs (e.g., drying, roasting and fermentation).

A natural flavoring is characterized by the fact that the basic material comes from plants or animals. It makes no difference whether the basic material is fresh/raw or has been boiled, fried, roasted or dried, for example.

Chemically identical

Obtained by chemical synthesis or isolated through chemical processes and chemically identical to a substance naturally present in plants or animals, as described under item a (natural flavorings). "Chemically identical flavorings" are chemically identical to a substance that is naturally present in plants or animals. Substances which are chemically identical to a natural substance may be labeled as "chemically identical", but may not be labeled as "natural".

Artificial

Obtained by chemical synthesis but which, chemically speaking, are not identical to a substance naturally present in plants or animals.

Therefore, the difference between chemically identical flavorings and artificial flavorings is that the "chemically identical" substances are present in plants or animals, whereas the "artificial" substances are not.

The entire text of the law (in Danish) is available at the website of Retsinfo (Legal Information): www retsinfo.dk.