Flavour migration

The coating prevents contact between the cone and the ice cream, thereby preventing the migration of water. Such a chocolate flavoured coating meets the required criteria, it is edible, effective and it adds to the attractiveness of the product. 

These can be the natural material itself one example would be pieces of vanilla pod or an extract, e.g. vanilla extract. Extracts can be prepared in several ways. One is to distil or to steam distil the material of interest. Another is to extract the raw material with a solvent, e.g. ethyl alcohol. Alternatively, some materials are extracted by coating the leaves of a plant with cocoa butter and allowing the material of interest to migrate into the cocoa butter. These techniques are also used in preparing perfumery ingredients, indeed materials like orange oil are used in both flavours and perfumes. 

For releasing materials it is likely that there will be a focus on the releasing component and its authorisation as a food additive, including any quantitative restriction or a restriction on the types of food. The information on efficacy may be important, e.g., in the case of a released preservative the final efficacy in the food should be demonstrated. A general rule may be considered that if the released component shows insufficient or no technical effect on the food, then the food additive does not comply with the requirements on food additives or any other relevant regulation on the composition of food and its additives, e.g., the requirements on food flavours. As a consequence such a material may not obtain a favourable opinion. Some information may be requested on the carrier of the releasing substance, but as this will not be part of an authorisation the safety of the carrier is the responsibility of the producer and the final user. In many cases the carrier may be subject to other provision on food contact materials. In principle the carrier should be inert and should not migrate to the food at an unacceptable concentration. 

A new trend is also to surprise consumers with flavours in unexpected categories (banana mayonnaise for children (Asia), or green tea cereals (Japan)) this trend is called/ZavoMr migration. Marrying of good flavour with nutrition is also predicted. 

The main requirements for contact with food are that the article must not impart odour or taste to the food and should be suitable for the intended application. Additives, monomers, catalyst residues, polymer degradation products and so on can migrate into any food in contact if the concentration of these substances is lower in the food than in the plastic. The migration is dependent on temperature and time the rate of migration is inversely proportional to molecular weight. The migration of these species could produce toxicity or the formation of undesirable flavours or odours, known as organoleptic problems. 

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