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I remember reading that there are biotech companies that basically engineer custom flavors for products like Coke and Doritos, flavor compounds that have a pow
by anon373839 3y ago
I remember reading that there are biotech companies that basically engineer custom flavors for products like Coke and Doritos, flavor compounds that have a powerful impact and which no one else can get. Despite the engineered nature, they qualify for labeling as “natural flavors”.
- crazygringo 3y agoUnless you can point to a source, that sounds exactly like all sorts of urban legends I grew up with... (The most popular one was that KFC had started using initials for its name because its chicken had similarly been so "engineered" they weren't legally allowed to call it chicken... 100% false, of course.)
- anon373839 3y agoI believe Senomyx was one of the companies mentioned in whatever I read (it’s been a few years). Here are some documents they filed with the SEC describing their process and some of their clients, including Coca-Cola, who hired them “for the development and discovery of specified new flavors and flavor enhancers”. There was apparently some flak because their technology used a human embryonic stem cell line in the flavor development process. I’m not sure the link below will mention the qualification for “natural flavor” labeling, but I recall that flavors derived from yeast fermentation - even if the yeast are genetically engineered to produce specific compounds - qualify because fermentation is a “natural” process. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/vprr/0806/08061155.pdf https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/vprr/0806/08061155.pdf