IFF reformulates natural flavours to comply with new EU rules

The industry has been busy working to ensure that products are in compliance with the flavoring regulation 1334/2008, which was adopted at the end of 2008 and is to due to fully replace directive 88/388/EEC from 20 January2011.

Regulatory demands ​

A year and a half ago IFF set to work on flavours that comply with the new regulation in time to give their clients the opportunity to test them out before the deadline.

The new regulatory requirements demanded a complete reformulation of the natural chicken and beef flavours in the IFF portfolio.

This was because 1334/2008 contained some substantial changes with regards to natural flavours. These include new and more detailed labelling requirements, and the reclassification of nature identical and artificial flavours as ‘flavouring substances’.

Reformulation ​

Paul Weijters, flavor safety & regulatory specialist at IFF, said the regulation meant that a lot of processes that were previously used to make natural flavours would no longer be compliant.

IFF therefore had to go back to the kitchen and using the culinary benchmarks created by master chef Florian Webhofer, the company went about creating a whole new range of flavour profiles.

The result is new beef flavours including rare, marrow bone, boiled, roast, grilled and stewed and new chicken flavours that include profiles for boiled white meat, boiled dark meat, roast chicken, grilled chicken and fatty skin.

The savory flavours can be used in a variety of food products from soups and sauces to noodles and frozen foods.

IFF claims that the new ingredients have raised the bar for natural flavours and are “more authentic profiles” ​than those offered before the regulations were tightened up.