Flavor

Flavor is a term for an ingredient or a combination of materials used to impart a flavor or a taste to cosmetics and personal care products. Flavors are typically included only in products which may be subject to ingestion, such as lipsticks and oral hygiene products. Many ingredients that function as fragrance components can also be used as Flavor compounds.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the term “flavor" on a product label signifies "any natural or synthetic substance or substances used solely to impart a taste to a cosmetic product." In Europe, the labeling name for Flavor is Aroma.

The safety of Flavor ingredients is assessed in the United States by a comprehensive program operated by the Flavor & Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA). Independent, scientific review of flavor ingredients is conducted by the FEMA Expert Panel, made up of toxicologists, pharmacologists, dermatologists and environmental scientists, none of whom has any other connection to the flavor industry, and whose work involves the safety evaluation of flavor ingredients under conditions of intended use. The FEMA Expert Panel oversees the gathering of information about the safety of individual flavor ingredients and reviews this information to determine the safety-in-use of these ingredients. The results of the FEMA Expert Panel evaluations are published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

The Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) defers review of individual flavor ingredients to the FEMA program unless the ingredient has significant uses other than as a flavor. In this case, the ingredient may be assessed by both the CIR Expert Panel and FEMA Expert Panel.

Link to the Web Site for the Flavor & Extract Manufacturers Association:
http://www.femaflavor.org/index.html

Many flavors have also been evaluated for safety by the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)
Link to the Web Site for JECFA:
http://www.who.int/ipcs/food/jecfa/en/index.htmlThe Expert Panel of the Flavor & Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA) supports a rigorous safety review program that systematically assesses the safety of flavoring substances. Manufacturers must provide all available information on specifications of flavoring substances, use and use levels as well as copies of test reports and other safety related information for examination by the FEMA Expert Panel.

In evaluating a Flavor ingredient, FEXPAN evaluates in vivo metabolism data, lifetime feeding studies, genotoxicity data, as well as advances in biochemistry and molecular biology that factor into the estimated intake of a flavor ingredient. As a result of safety assessments, FEMA can designate a Flavor substance as Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS), or can recommend a reduction in the usage of certain flavor ingredients if exposure presents a risk to human health.

Last modified 23 months ago