Post #328460 by The Gnomon on Mon, Aug 27, 2007 8:49 AM

On 2007-08-23 11:48, jingleheimerschmidt wrote:

Natural Flavor in Heinz ketchup (catsup...whatever) is "beef juice." Mmmm...beef juice (said in a Homer Simpson voice). Actually called their 1-800 number. Other companies are dumbfounded when you call their number ask WTF is natural flavor. They always promise to call back. At least the TV mai tai mix doesn't have Olestra!

Ahh. Isn't Olestra the stuff in certain potato chips that come with a discount coupon for Depend products on the bag?

It looks like the USDA has redefined "natural flavor" to no longer include MSG. Supposedly, if something contains MSG in any form it has to say "monosodium glutamate" in the ingredients. Something tells me though that companies can find ways around that, as they used to in the past.

Another interesting thing I found out is that "natural flavor" does not have to conform to the type of product it is going into. That is, you can put beef juice into a fruit drink and call the beef juice "natural flavor." Manufacturers can put vegetable material in meat products and meat material in vegetable products under the moniker of "natural flavor" (as long as they've used it that way), so you could consume something that you think is 100% vegetable, while it might have meat material in it listed as "natural flavor."

The ketchup/catsup is a good example. Most people think of it as a completely vegetable product with spices. The fact that the beef juice is in compliance with the definition of "natural" and it is used for flavoring, it can be listed in the ingredients as "natural flavor."

I found this info in several places, one of the most comprehensive being here.

[ Edited by: The Gnomon 2007-08-27 08:52 ]