Nature of synthetic flavorings

The range of natural and synthetic flavorings available to the modern food technologists is very large. Essential oils form a major source of flavorings. Synthetic flavoring agents are chemically similar to natural flavorings and offer increased consistency in use and availability.

Synthetic flavorings are usually less expensive and more readily available than the natural counterparts, although they may not adequately simulate the natural flavor. On the other hand, natural flavorings are often more acceptable. However, they are quite complex and difficult to reproduce synthetically.

In fact, one of the problems with natural flavorings is that they may vary according to their season and their uncontrollable variance. The synthetic flavor need not comprise the wide array of volatile compounds usually associated with natural flavors. The identities of the volatiles need not even be identical with those of the natural flavor, but the formulation must be capable of sensorial simulation of the natural flavor.

Synthetic flavorings, however, can be reproduced quite accurately, many artificial flavors, such as amyl acetate (artificial banana flavor), benzaldehyde(artificial cherry flavor), and ethyl caproate(artificial pineapple flavor), are added to confectioneries, baked products, soft drinks, and ice cream. These flavorings are added in concentrations of 0.03% or less.

In soft drinks these flavors must have be stable under the acidic conditions of the beverage and on exposure to light for a year or more, since bottled drinks may be held this long or longer.
Nature of flavor components