ABSTRACT
For thousands of years flavors and fragrances have been recognized and used for their healing, cleansing, preservative, and mood-elevating attributes. Today their demand has greatly enhanced due to escalating interest in aromatherapy and increasing usage in improving the quality of cosmetics and perfumery products. The flavors and fragrance (F&F) industry prefers to use mostly natural, rather than synthetic substitutes, for applications in pharmaceutical and edible products. But the shortage, high price, and price fluctuations of the natural flavors and fragrances are often the compelling reasons for partially, if not fully, switching over to synthetic equivalents. Consequently natural flavors and fragrances and synthetic aroma chemicals are suitably blended as dictated by the market forces and their end uses. Flavor formulations also need to meet consumer demands for acceptable flavor profile, stability, and shelf life. The International Organisation of the Flavor Industry (IOFI) has developed a code of practice for the characterization of various flavors and fragrances, based on the following classification (Mahindru, 1992):
Natural:
those flavors which are derived from natural or vegetable sources by physical or microbiological methods. The sources need not be used as food.
