Blog
1 min read
For the past year, we have been working hard making Soylent Drinks tastier and smoother. Our goal was to completely remove any barriers associated with taste for people wanting to transition to plant based products.
We explored many avenues including the latest in both natural and artificial sweeteners and flavor technologies. .
Natural vs Artificial Flavors: So what’s the difference?
Many perceive natural flavors as being better or healthier than artificial flavors, but the truth is that natural flavors can also be highly processed making them very similar. The only actual difference between the two is that natural flavors are molecules that are present in nature whereas artificial flavors can be made up of molecules created in a lab or produced synthetically.
Natural flavors are often sourced from unexpected ingredients. For example, a blueberry flavored product labelled as containing “natural flavors” probably does not contain blueberry extract per se or anything derived from a blueberry, but rather a mixture of molecules occurring in nature that make the product taste like blueberries.
In the US, both artificial and natural flavors molecules need to be reviewed and approved for use by an organization named FEMA (The Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association of the United States) and therefore their safety profiles are reviewed according to the same safety standards.
Given that their safety standards are the same and that they are processed similarly, is there an advantage to choose natural flavors over artificial flavors? The answer is yes! Natural flavors have become preferred by consumers increasing the demand which has led flavor suppliers investing more resources on natural development compared to artificial flavors.
By using natural flavors, we benefited from a larger selection of options and ultimately created great naturally flavored profiles that were preferred by consumers in taste tests.
Try them for yourself! Shop now!
