European Flavour Industry

Fortunately thanks to very strong and effective, successful lobbying by the European Flavour Industry, this has been rectified and an amendment to this definition (Art. 3.2 (k)) has been accepted by Council, Commission, and European Parliament. 

Flavourings created for the US market or Israel normally have to follow requirements for kosher status, whereas markets as the Near and Middle East and parts of Asia (e.g. Indonesia, Philippines) have a strong need for halal flavourings. As the flavour market is becoming more and more global, even the European companies in the flavour industry have to be certified by the respective certifying authorities. In general these requirements result in a reduced number of raw materials and in specific cases also carrier materials (e.g. omission of ethanol for halal flavours) for the daily project work of a fiavourist. 

Table 3.2 Definitions of flavouring according to the International Organization of the Flavour Industry [5] and to the Council of the European Communities [6]...

International Organization Flavour Industry, 1990 Council of the European Communities, 1988... 

European Flavour and Fragrance Association (2005) European Inquiry on volume use. Private communication to the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association, Washington, DC, USA. Submitted to WHO by the International Organization of the Flavor Industry, Brussels, Belgium. 

Dansette, P.M., Thang, D.C., Amri, H.E. Mansuy, D. (1992) Evidence forthiophene-S-oxide as a primary reactive metabolite of thiophene in vivo formation of a dihydrothiophene sulfoxide mercapturic acid. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 186(3), 1624-1630. European Flavour and Fragrance Association (2005) European inquiry on volume use. Private communication to the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association, Washington. DC, USA. Submitted to WHO by the International Organization of the Flavor Industry. Brussels, Belgium. 

For trade of F F (including pure substances and mixtures or preparations thereof and natural raw materials) within the European Union, certain rules apply within the European Industry which are established by the European Flavour and Fragrance Association Code of Practice (EFFA CoP). The following general considerations are taken over from the Introductory note to the EFFA CoP, which is published yearly on the EFFA website www.effa.be. It should be noted that the most recent... 

From this starting point, the flavour and fragrance industry first developed in Europe, expanded to the USA and later reached an international scope. Today Western European companies have reconquered the leadership position in this market, which, after the 2 World War, was held by American companies. 

Commission of the European Communities - Directorate-General Industry III/E/1 - Scientific Committee for Food Report on Smoke Flavourings (adopted on 25 June 1993) - CS/FLAV/49 -FINAL July 1993... 

According to the main food industry regulations in the European Union and the USA, a flavour is said to be natural (Table 3) only if the raw material comes from the living pool and if physical or biochemical processes only have been involved during the different manufacturing steps. 

Since a conple of years ago, the European Association of the Flavour and Fragrance Industry in Europe (EFFA) has been publishing a Code of Practice (CoP, 2008) with recommendations regarding a proper classification and labeling of aromatic chemicals and essential oils. 

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