flavorings

flavorings working group

The Flavourings Working Group consists primarily of food chemists who work for flavouring manufacturers, users of flavourings in the food industry, official food monitoring, commercial laboratories or universities. The regular meetings serve to exchange information and form opinions. In discussions on current topics, mutually agreed opinions should preferably be developed. Where this is not possible, the exchange of experiences should contribute to a convergence of viewpoints or at least to a better understanding of the other position. The results of the discussions also serve as a basis for publications by the working group.

The Flavourings Working Group has existed since July 1998 and has consisted of around 20-25 active members and a varying number of corresponding members.

News

The de facto end of smoke flavorings in the EU has played a central role in the working group's technical discussions since 2024. The required extension of the authorization for so-called “primary products” was not approved by the Commission in July 2024. The reason for this was the content of genotoxic substances such as furan-2(5H)-one and 1,2-dihydroxybenzene in connection with a stricter assessment of such substances by the EFSA Scientific Committee decided in 2019. It remains to be seen how the changed situation will affect the food market once the current transitional periods have expired. The unavailability of smoke flavorings could lead to more conventional smoking resulting in increased consumer exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons – a group of toxic compounds that are significantly depleted during the production of smoke flavorings through appropriate purification steps. For a more detailed consideration of the problem, please refer to the working group's publication on the subject in the journal Lebensmittelchemie (2025) 79(2).

 

Head of the working group

Chairman

PD Dr. habil. Martin Steinhaus
Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology
at the Technical University of Munich, Freising
martin.steinhaus@tum.de


Deputy

Dr. Andrea Bosse
LANXESS Germany, Cologne
andrea.bosse@lanxess.com


Secretary

Frauke Kirsch
Hertz & Selck GmbH & Co, Hamburg
kir@hertz-selck.de

Term of office 2023 - 2025

Key Activities

The working group primarily deals with

  • the interpretation of the legal requirements for the production and use of flavourings
  • the development and evaluation of analytical test procedures
  • methods for determining the authenticity of natural flavourings and their raw materials (e.g. vanilla)
  • the labelling of flavourings
  • current research topics around flavourings
  • the observation of the toxicological evaluation of flavourings
  • the monitoring of the intake of flavouring substance
  • the publication of reports and papers

Publications

  • „Smoke flavourings off the table?“ (in German), Lebensmittelchemie (2025) 79(2)
  • Basic paper on the topic “Vanilla flavors – origin, analysis and characterization of vanilla components” (in German; prepared together with the Working Group Stable Isotope Analysis), Lebensmittelchemie (2022) 76:S1-016-S1-026 (pdf)
  • "Clarification of the designation of vanillin from electrochemical oxidation of lignin" (in German), Nachrichten aus der Chemie (2021) 69(1):95 (Link)
  • Brochure “Aroma compounds – important contributors to food quality” (in German), updated edition (2019) (pdf)
  • Basic paper "Origin and authenticity of vanilla flavourings" (in German; prepared together with the Working Group Stable Isotope Analysis) (2010) (pdf)
  • Brochure “Aroma compounds – important contributors to food quality” (in German) (2010)
  • "Occurrence of allyl hexanoate (CAS No. 123-68-2) in pineapple fruits" (in German) (2007) (pdf)
  • “Authenticity of flavourings” (regarding: "disclosure of processes" and "traceability"), Lebensmittelchemie (2004) 58:54 (pdf)
  • "Natural flavouring substances" – Statement of the Flavourings Working Group (in German) (2003) (pdf); additionally published in Lebensmittelchemie (2003) 57:44 (pdf)
  • "Enantioselective analysis for the naturalness assessment of flavouring substances" (in German), Lebensmittelchemie (2001) 55:24-26 (pdf)

flavorings - an important part of food quality

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last modified: 07.04.2025 11:59 H from Translator