Smelling the smoke: EU flavoring ban spurs innovation in natural alternatives
03 May 2024 --- The EU is set to ban several smoke flavorings commonly used in meat and cheese products and soups, sauces and snacks after food safety authorities linked the ingredients to genotoxicity health concerns. The phasing out of these artificial flavorings has forced food manufacturers to pursue alternatives, including natural solutions.
Unilever is one industry giant affected by the incoming regulation. Its European sausage brand, Unox, reportedly produces 16 million “rookworsten” a year using the banned flavorings.
“For Unilever, food safety is, of course, first priority — we take our responsibility in this,” a company spokesperson tells Food Ingredients First.
“We are constantly improving our products and innovating even further. With a ban on smoke flavorings coming up, we will be committed to either developing alternative smoke flavorings or looking at other solutions to preserve the current flavor and texture.”
Meanwhile, reports indicate that Kerry Group, a public food company headquartered in Ireland, urged the government to intervene in the ban. It warned the regulation would cause significant economic harm to the country’s food sector and impact around €30 billion (US$32 billion) worth of food products in the EU.
Smoking is traditionally used to help preserve foods but also changes the flavor of foods. As an alternative to traditional smoking, smoke flavorings are added to foods, including foods not traditionally smoked, like confectionery. Smoke flavorings are produced through a wood-burning process called pyrolysis.
Natural alternatives
Sensient Flavors & Extracts Europe is one company that has anticipated the ban. Earlier this year, it launched the SmokeLess Smoke range — a natural, clean label alternative for popular smoky flavor notes in gourmet cuisine.
The company’s innovation manager, Jeremy Marichez, tells Food Ingredients First: “Consumers are looking for natural alternatives, addressing their expectations for a healthier diet, and clean label products and product safety.”
EFSA did not investigate what quantity of the flavorings would need to be consumed to cause health problems but recommended a blanket ban to avoid “worst case scenarios.”
“Our SmokeLess Smoke range of flavors are natural solutions that cater to diverse smoky flavor notes while being free of actual smoke condensates and meeting requirements for natural, vegan, non-GMO, Halal and Kosher label claims.”
“Furthermore, Sensient brings to bear its deep knowledge of geographical preferences — for example, a barbecue taste for UK consumers will be different than one for people in Spain.”
F&B manufacturers can use SmokeLess Smoke liquid and powder flavors in applications with primary smoke flavorings, including meat, fish, cheese, snacks and beverages.
According to Marichez, the EU ban could drive innovation in nature-based smoke flavoring.
“This ban is an opportunity to explore the diversity of possible candidates in the natural flavor compatible raw materials and develop new extracts,” he explains.
“It can also bring additional challenges in some applications where primary smoke flavorings are not used for the only purpose of flavor signature. An example is in meat, fish or cheese, where liquid smoke flavorings were used to impart color, texture and microbiological stability impacts next to the flavor signature. Those challenges can offer new opportunities for the development of cleaner alternatives from natural solutions providers.”
Following the science
In April, EU member states endorsed a proposal from the European Commission not to renew the authorization of eight smoke flavorings for food, which manufacturers had requested.
The phasing out of eight artificial flavorings has encouraged food manufacturers to consider natural alternatives.
After a phase-out period, these flavorings will no longer be permitted for use in the EU, based on scientific assessments by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which concluded that for all eight smoke flavorings assessed, genotoxicity concerns are “either confirmed or can’t be ruled out.”
Changes or mutations to the genetic information within a cell may increase the risk of cancer, infertility and inherited diseases. According to EFSA, it is not possible to define a safe level for this type of toxicity.
The opinion is based on an updated methodology, assessing new data submitted by the applicants. It concerns the specific flavorings that can be added to food, not the food itself.
The new regulation stipulates different phase-out periods to give time for producers and operators to adapt to the rules. When used to replace traditional smoking, such as ham, fish and cheese, the phase-out period is five years. The phase-out period will be two years for uses where the smoke flavoring is added for extra flavor, such as sauces, soups and chips.
The Commission will formally adopt the regulation in the coming weeks before it enters into force later this spring.
By Joshua Poole
