What is the key difference between US natural & EU natural flavors/fragrances?
Let's understand what are natural flavours as per EU & US regulation first.
US natural:
Natural flavors are flavors derived from natural raw materials that contain no artificial constituents. Artificial within the meaning of this regulation is synthetic or petrochemical. The raw materials that meet the natural definition include all botanical/microbiological/animal sources.
EU natural:
Natural flavors are flavors derived from natural raw materials that contain no artificial constituents i.e. synthetic or petrochemical. The raw materials that meet the natural definition include all botanical/microbiological/animal sources.
It requires that natural flavors be manufactured only by traditional food preparation processes. This includes such processes as heating/cooking, physical processes like cutting, grinding, or pressing, physical separations like distillation or recrystallization, solvent extraction, enzymatic processes, and fermentation.
Key difference:
Isolation of natural flavors through chemical transformation by inorganic catalysts meets the US natural flavor requirement, where as EU doesn't allow use of synthetic and inorganic catalysts in manufacturing natural flavors (EU natural as per EFFA EC1334/2008 regulations)
Source: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:354:0034:0050:en:PDF
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