Organic Processing Vo1.8 #4 - July/August 2011

gredients. The alcohol and the juice concentrate, for example, would need to be organic.

Organic vs. NOP-Compliant Natural Flavors

According to (CFR) 205.605, product developers can use NOP-compliant natural flavors in organic products. However, for the many in the organic industry who seek to have their products as close to 100 percent organic as possible, there is good news. While certified organic flavors used to be limited, today there is a wide

“P“Products that incorporate flavors often keep their flavor much longer than those that just use the whole food alone. Flavors also usually sur-

often exchange expensive fruit ingredients like this for a small amount of fruit flavor, or just use less fruit in conjunction with a flavor so that the product still has the nutrients and visual appeal of the fruit but a more pronounced flavor. Ultimately, incorporating flavors can often result in a fuller taste at a lower cost.

In addition, when creating shelf-stable processed foods and beverages, products that incorporate flavors often keep their flavor much longer than those that just use the whole food alone. Flavors also usually survive processes like baking, frying and pasteurization better.

vive processes like baking, frying and
pasteurization better.”

spectrum of certified organic flavors to choose from. Thus, you can have tastier products and help convert acreage around the world to organic as well. Incorporating certified organic flavors also ensures the highest level of transparency, as organic flavors must go through a third-party verification to ensure that organic regulations are being met.

NOP-compliant natural flavors must be non-GMO, not extracted from an irradiated source and all ingredients used in flavors must have been grown without the use of sewage sludge as a fertilizer. Flavor houses must sign off on their organic-compliant flavors stating that the flavor has been produced to the aforementioned guidelines, however they can use conventional ingredients that are not subject to third party verification.

Also, an organic-compliant flavor must be used in small enough quantity to still meet the “Over 95 percent Organic Ingredients Rule” in a finished product. On the other hand, if you are nearing the 5 percent mark of nonorganic ingredients, using one of the many organic flavors on the market may help you meet the specs. Today, most flavors can be created in certified organic and many organic flavors are also available in fair trade as well.

When to Use Flavors and the Many Different Types of
Flavors That Are Now Available

Flavors are used to increase high notes in a product and enhance the flavor that is being called out in the SKU. Many fruits, such as raspberries and blueberries, do not impart much flavor even in high volumes.

For example, a product will often have more of a blueberry taste when a blueberry flavor is added rather than a large amount of straight blueberry juice concentrate. Thus, product developers will

Sweet and Fruity Flavors

Basic fruit flavors are widespread and commonly available from all flavor houses. To formulate exotic flavored SKUs containing fruit that may not be available organically, NOP-compliant natural flavors are often used. For example, dragon fruit may be impossible to source organically all year long in an industrial quantity. A flavor is a simple solution to this problem.

While there may not be quite as big of a selection of these exotics in organic certified, in the last couple of years, several of these types of “ super-fruit” flavors have been developed in certified organic, including everything from ranui berry and cupuaçu to yumberry, sea buckthorn and acerola cherry.

Vanilla, a member of the sweet family of flavors, is the most widely used flavor worldwide. It is found in our processed dairy, nondairy beverages and many cookies and bars on the market. There are many varieties on the market right now, including fair trade vanilla. A new line of alco-hol-free organic vanilla flavors has been developed as well.