Food Flavourings

Food Flavourings Overview

Food flavouring is an old practice that mainly serves the purpose of adding taste and improving the palatability of food. They may be artificial or naturally sourced from fruits, vegetables and spices. Vegetables for example contain flavour compounds that are naturally unimpaired or extracted with the application of heat. Methanol is a food flavour originally contained in vegetables. It gives a lasting mint flavour and fresh breath from chewing gum. Other flavourings include garlic, cinnamon, onions, fumaric acid, amyl acetate, ethyl butyrate, methyl salicylate, vanilla, saffron, coumarin and saccharin. Although not all food flavourings have nutritional benefits, they all ensure the availability of specific food flavours in and out of season. They also enable persons with food allergies consume what they would have originally avoided. Some spices used as food flavouring are known for their cultural importance. For example; Indian curry and Jamaican jerk require specific spices associated with their specific regions of origin.
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There are controversies around the safety of certain food flavourings like methanol which has been reported by some researchers to have negative impact on human reproductive health. The use of saccharin as food flavouring has also been banned in countries like Nigeria due to its indigestibility after consumption. Fortunately, the increasing demand for healthy food has forced many manufacturers to exclude unsafe flavourings from the production process. To encourage researches that expose unsafe food additives and innovations in agriculture, Tengrain Science facilitates collaborative research spaces for institutions.