Number 30 June 1994
MAFF UK - BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE PRINCIPLES IN NATURAL FLAVOURING SOURCE
MATERIALS AND PREPARATIONS
Index to MAFF UK Food Surveillance Information
Sheets, 1994
see also:
79: MAFF UK
- Survey of Pulegone and Menthol in Peppermint Oils (January 1996)
99: MAFF UK- Survey of Biologically Active Principles
in Mint Products and Herbal Teas
Background
Flavourings are materials which are used to impart taste (excluding
saltiness, sweetness or sourness) or odour, or both, to a food but which are not
intended to be consumed as such. Traditionally, herbs and spices are not
regarded as flavourings. The four main types of flavourings in use in the UK
are:
- natural flavouring preparations - complex mixtures of aromatic
products obtained from plant or animal source materials;
- chemically-defined flavouring substances - single flavouring
substances which are either derived from natural materials or are produced
synthetically;
- process flavourings - includes thermal process flavourings,
enzymatically or microbiologically derived flavourings and flavourings obtained
as products of biotechnology; and;
- smoke flavourings - derived from smoke extracts and condensates
used to mimic the effects of traditional smoking.
The most common types of natural flavouring preparations are: essential
oils, produced mainly by distillation or mechanical pressing; water or alcohol
extracts known as infusions and tinctures respectively; and oleoresins, produced
by solvent extraction and subsequent evaporation. In some natural flavouring
preparations, derived from certain plant source materials, inherent toxicants
known as biologically active principles (BAPs) are found to occur. These active
principles, like other inherent plant toxicants, are produced as a result of
biosynthesis, metabolism or some other natural process within the plant.
The use of BAPs as flavouring substances, either alone or in a mixture of
flavouring substances, is not permitted in the UK or in other EC Member States.
Limits on the levels of twelve BAPs in foods and beverages to which natural
flavourings are added are set under the Flavourings in Food Regulations 1992
which implement the EC Flavourings Framework Directive (88/388/EEC).
An inventory of natural flavouring source materials and preparations,
carried out by MAFF between 1989 and 1991, suggested that of the twelve BAPs
covered by UK legislation, pulegone, safrole/isosafrole and coumarin were likely
to be most frequently added to foods in the form of flavouring preparations due
to their presence in commonly used source materials such as peppermint
(pulegone), cinnamon and nutmeg (safrole/isosafrole). Coumarin has been
reported to occur in a number of different flavouring materials although some of
these reports are not definitive. To provide current data on the levels of
these BAPs in source materials and preparations used by the UK flavourings
industry, a survey was carried out by MAFF between October 1993 and May 1994.
The survey also aimed to provide information on menthol, which is often found
along with pulegone in mint products, and on myristicin, which is similar in
structure to safrole and is being reviewed as a potential BAP by the Council of
Europe Committee of Experts on Flavouring Substances.
Results
A total of 189 natural flavouring source materials and preparations,
selected as being likely to contain the BAPs of interest, were obtained from 19
flavour houses and food manufacturers and analysed by MAFF's Food Science
Laboratory in Norwich. Samples were initially analysed by gas chromatography
with flame ionisation detection (GC/FID) using two columns of differing
polarity, with confirmation of positive results being undertaken by gas
chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Further details are available from
Dr Davies (address below).
Results for the natural flavouring source materials analysed are presented
in Table 1 and those for natural flavouring
preparations are summarised in
Table 2. Results were generally consistent
with the scientific literature. For example, all 35 samples of peppermint and
cornmint essential oils contained both pulegone (range, 1.3-9.4 percent) and
menthol (7.4-53.8 percent), while safrole was detected in most samples of
cinnamon bark, essential oils and oleoresins at levels of up to 6.4 percent.
Safrole (0.1-8.3 percent) and myristicin (0.1-21.0 percent) were found in all 18
samples of nutmeg and its flavouring preparations and coumarin was present in
all four samples of flouve oil (4.3-6.3 percent). In contrast to several older
literature reports, pulegone was not found in any spearmint oils. However, this
is consistent with the results of more recent work by the UK flavourings
industry. The results also confirmed that, despite earlier reports, safrole is
not present in anise, star anise, camphor, cassia and pepper or their
preparations or in ylang-ylang oils. Similarly, coumarin was not found in
carrot seed oils, despite some reports in the literature. The finding of
coumarin in several samples of cassia bark, essential oils and oleoresins
(0.2-15.9 percent) is not widely recognised in the literature but is consistent
with recent industry data.
Interpretation
The results of the survey are generally consistent with those in the
scientific literature. Reported levels of use in food of natural flavouring
source materials and preparations shown to contain BAPs indicate that the levels
of these active principles in foods and beverages will generally be very low and
give no cause for concern. Information is currently being sought from the
flavourings and food industries on current levels of use of these materials in
food. This information, together with data on the levels of BAPs, will be
included in the review of BAPs currently being undertaken by the Council of
Europe Committee of Experts on Flavouring Substances. They will also form part
of a forthcoming MAFF publication on flavourings.
Contact Point
Further information can be obtained from:
Dr Anne Davies
MAFF,
Food Safety and Science Group
Additives and Novel Foods Division
Room
232 Ergon House, c/o Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London SW1P 3JR
Tel:
+44 (0)171 238 6217
Fax: +44 (0)171 238 6263
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