Tip of the Week: Naming Your Flavored Products

It seems everywhere you look companies are coming out with new flavored products - pumpkin, eggnog, peppermint, the possibilities are endless. Whether the flavor of your product is pumpkin or something else, be sure you are correctly naming your flavored products.

Using pumpkin as an example, the name of the food on the label will include the characterizing flavor of pumpkin. Whether “pumpkin” in the product name needs to be qualified as “flavored”, “naturally flavored”, or “artificially flavored” will depend on what is being added to provide the flavor. Let’s take a look at some possible names for pumpkin muffins with different sources of pumpkin flavor.

Pumpkin Muffins

• If the muffins contain pumpkin as the only source of pumpkin flavor.
• If the muffins contain pumpkin and natural pumpkin flavor BUT there is enough pumpkin to characterize the food.
• If the muffins contain pumpkin and natural and/or artificial flavor BUT the flavor ingredient does not reinforce, simulate, or resemble the pumpkin flavor. For instance, using a vanilla flavor in a pumpkin muffin would not affect the product name.

Natural Pumpkin Flavored Muffins or Pumpkin Flavored Muffin

• If the muffins contain natural pumpkin flavor and have no pumpkin.
• If the muffins contain natural pumpkin flavor and some pumpkin but not enough to sufficiently characterize the food.

Artificially Flavored Pumpkin Muffins or Artificial Pumpkin Muffins

• If the muffins contain any artificial flavors that reinforce, simulate, or resemble the pumpkin flavor.
• If the muffins contain a pumpkin “type” flavor but no pumpkin. A pumpkin “type” flavor is composed of other natural flavors that simulate a pumpkin flavor but none of the flavors are sourced from pumpkin.

Natural Pumpkin Flavored Muffins with Other Natural Flavors or Pumpkin Flavored Muffins with Other Natural Flavors

• If the muffins contain natural pumpkin flavor and a pumpkin “type” flavor but no pumpkin.
• If the muffins contain natural pumpkin flavor, a pumpkin “type” flavor and some pumpkin but not enough to sufficiently characterize the food.

There are some products such as ice cream and frozen yogurt that have exceptions provided in their standard of identity from the above rules. If your product meets a standard of identity, be sure to check the standard before naming your products.

When naming flavored products, remember that consumers expect the flavor to come from the characterizing ingredient unless the name indicates otherwise. Depending on the source of the flavor, the name of the product may need to be qualified to avoid having a misbranded product.