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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004flavor
Food ingredients label: '"Contains less than 2% natural flavor". That means it contains 98% unnnatural flavor'. Or does it? s/ meirman If you are emailing me please say if you are posting the same response. Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years Indianapolis, 7 years Chicago, 6 years Brooklyn NY 12 years Baltimore 20 years meirman@invalid.com spake thus: > Food ingredients label: '"Contains less than 2% natural flavor". That > means it contains 98% unnnatural flavor'. This is similar to one which continues to annoy me: "90% fat free". So, how much fat is in the other 10%?  SignatureDavid ===== In alt.english.usage on Wed, 14 Jan 2004 09:44:49 -0000 david56 <bass.c.voice@ntlworld.com> posted: >meirman@invalid.com spake thus: > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >This is similar to one which continues to annoy me: "90% fat free". >So, how much fat is in the other 10%? All fat! But that's not exactly what I meant with my example. Is it that the other 98% is unnatural flavor, or that it is not flavor at all, but may be natural? I'm not sure at all that line has ever appeared on a granola bar. It was a sitcom, and they might have changed it to try to make it funny. I don't know what the greatest amount of flavor in some food might be. If it is "natural flavor" it might be more bulky than artificial flavor, but then would it be called "essence of cranberry" or "cranberries" or something? (I have never seen the first on a label.) s/ meirman If you are emailing me please say if you are posting the same response. Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years Indianapolis, 7 years Chicago, 6 years Brooklyn NY 12 years Baltimore 20 years meirman@invalid.com spake thus: > In alt.english.usage on Wed, 14 Jan 2004 09:44:49 -0000 david56 > <bass.c.voice@ntlworld.com> posted: [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > All fat! It probably is, but it might be 30% fat. I would far rather see "10% fat" than "90% fat free". But then I'm sometimes over literal. SignatureDavid ===== > But then I'm sometimes over literal. There's probably a dietary supplement to cure that. ;-) SignaturePeter Duncanson UK (posting from a.e.u) > Food ingredients label: '"Contains less than 2% natural flavor". That > means it contains 98% unnnatural flavor'. > > Or does it? So you take it to mean "Of the total flavouring in this product, less than 2% is natural". I assume what the manufacturer intended was "Of the total ingredients in this product, less than 2% is natural flavour". I agree that either of us may be correct. Does the label have a full statement of the product's composition? That would clear up any confusion. Alan Jones In alt.english.usage on Wed, 14 Jan 2004 16:47:41 -0000 "Alan Jones" <atj@blueyonder.co.uk> posted: >> Food ingredients label: '"Contains less than 2% natural flavor". That >> means it contains 98% unnnatural flavor'. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >So you take it to mean "Of the total flavouring in this product, less than >2% is natural". I was quoting a sitcom. But it is certainly one interpretation (don't know if the original wording is ever used.) >I assume what the manufacturer intended was "Of the total >ingredients in this product, less than 2% is natural flavour". I agree that >either of us may be correct. Does the label have a full statement of the >product's composition? That would clear up any confusion. Probably does. But it was TV, and I couldn't get them to hold up the package. :) Looking at the label would probably help David too. :) >Alan Jones s/ meirman If you are emailing me please say if you are posting the same response. Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years Indianapolis, 7 years Chicago, 6 years Brooklyn NY 12 years Baltimore 20 years > In alt.english.usage on Wed, 14 Jan 2004 16:47:41 -0000 "Alan Jones" > <atj@blueyonder.co.uk> posted: [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > Looking at the label would probably help David too. :) "Natural flavor" is simply an ingredient which the government permits the manufacturers to be vague about. For example, McDonald's restaurants' "natural flavor" for its french fries was derived in some way from beef, but they did not have to reveal that (they finally revealed it voluntarily). It may also be the result of genetic engineering. See a post which I previously wrote about "natural flavor" at http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=47dd044c.0202272122.9a93ec1%40posting.googl e.com&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain or http://tinyurl.com/29g94 SignatureRaymond S. Wise Minneapolis, Minnesota USA E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com > > In alt.english.usage on Wed, 14 Jan 2004 16:47:41 -0000 "Alan Jones" > > <atj@blueyonder.co.uk> posted: [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > may also be the result of genetic engineering. See a post which I previously > wrote about "natural flavor" at http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=47dd044c.0202272122.9a93ec1%40posting.googl e.com&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain > or > > http://tinyurl.com/29g94 On the subject of "flavor" as an ingredient, I happened to be looking at the ingredients for some Sunsweet products today (as part of research for the "dried plum" discussion going on in alt.usage.english and sci.lang in the "raisin secs"[1] thread. Sunsweet(TM) Orange Essence(TM) Dried Plums contains the following ingredient: "natural orange flavor from real oranges." Sunsweet(TM) Lemon Essence(TM) Dried Plums contains "natural lemon flavor from real lemons." I wonder if the reason that they specified "from real oranges" and "from real lemons" is that they could indeed have used a "natural orange flavor" and "natural lemon flavor" which was *not* from real oranges or lemons, that is, as I mentioned before, a "natural flavor" may very well come from genetically-engineered bacteria, fungus, or other genetically-engineered organism. Note: [1] Yes, that thread name is a misspelling, it should be either the French term "raisin sec" ( = "dried grape" ) or its plural form "raisins secs" ( = "dried grapes" ). SignatureRaymond S. Wise Minneapolis, Minnesota USA E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com |
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