My guess is that you woud not be surprised to learn that mouth watering flavors are frequently engineered in laboratories, with their original inspiration often coming from whole natural foods. I do however believe you might be surprised at just how many products In your local supermarket have been flavor enhanced in this way. This flavor enhancement occurs in a large proportion of the packaged foods available in bags, cans, jars and boxes. Many of these enhanced foods which purport to be healthy have one listed "ingredient" in common on their food labels. That listed item is "Natural Flavors" which were added to seduce you into consuming more. Can you trust that label? Probably not.
You might also be surprised as to what can be labeled "Natural Flavors." For example "Strawberry and vanilla flavor can come from a gland in a beavers backside." And on that note may I introduce you to Givaudan who I imagine you may have also never heard of. The telvision program 60 Minutes did a very revealing expose on artificial and natural flavors in which they state that "Givaudan may be the biggest multi-national [company] you've never heard of."
60 Minutes also states regarding their flavor enhancement of foods "...and, not only that, virtually every thing edible in a package, in a jar, in a can, is intensified with either fat, sugar or salt, or all three of those little devils."
David Kessler, former head of the FDA has this to say about our love affair with flavor enhanced foods: "...and much of what we're eating with these flavors, you have to ask yourself, is it really food? ... These flavors are so stimulating, they hijack our brain".
Apparently things in the food industry are changing as consumers now ask for less fat, sugar and salt. "Everyone, everyone, everyone, is working on health and wellness." Or, are they? The 60 minutes expose embedded below was not available for awhile on the Internet. Fortunately it is now freely available on the CBS YouTube Channel. This is a must watch video. Enjoy and then let us know what your thoughts are going forward regarding the consumption of "Natural Flavors."
NOTE: It ends up that the YouTube video embedded above has been prevented from being seen on any web pages. The video is worth watching but you will have to go watch it from their own YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7Wh3uq1yTc
In answer to the question "What could be better than natural flavorings?" I offer this suggestion: Pure Whole Plant Based Natural Foods. Get your nutrition delivered From Sun to Plant to Plate.
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