Natural Flavors

I mentioned "natural flavors" in my introduction. However, I think it is important to dedicate an entire post to them. They appear in almost every food, especially snack food. This makes it more difficult to find items, like chips, that are both flavorful, but don't have unspecified natural flavors. If the product does not specify what source the natural flavor was derived from then I will not eat it.
As a result of my "campaign" against natural flavors that don't list the source, I have begun only eating chips such as Fritos, tortilla chips, and regular potato chips. These are items that basically consist of either corn or potato, salt, and some sort of vegetable oil. It can get pretty bland after a while. Salsa can take an edge of the blandness of these products, but it's just not the same as biting into Cooler Ranch Doritos, or some other chip, that is tasty enough as is, without needing dips to go with it.
Chips are not the only product that have unidentified natural flavors. Also, they are not just in junk food. They appear in lemonades, sodas, iced teas, pre-made pasta or rice dishes, etc. I avoid them all because there is no reason why I should not know if it's just derived from dairy, or if it's animal, or vegetable.

One thing that I have found is that if the natural flavor is from a plant source, then it will specify, usually with the phrase "(from a vegetable source)." Because of those four words, this leads me to believe that if it is not specified as a vegetable, then all the rest of the natural flavors are implied to be from an animal. How many customers are these food companies losing every day, just because they do not specify? I'm sure there are natural flavors that remain unidentified that are vegetarian friendly, and consumers would never know it because nobody ever bothered to inform them on the package. Why is that? Could it be because if everything that was a plant source or dairy source was identified, then America would come to realize how much of what they eat has some sort of mystery animal part in it? If Americans did know what was really going into their foods (in terms of animal or vegetable) then would it really make a difference as to what they buy anyway? I mean, in terms of the omnivores or carnivores out there, would they really care so much if they knew that the natural flavor in their chips was from an animal source? I think what they might be afraid of is the fact that there are vegetarians out there that do not take the time to read the labels or do any sort of research. There are vegetarians out there that are not aware that the french fries they are eating are flavored with natural beef flavor, and there could be a potential backlash if they did; if companies started openly advertising that information, instead of only leaving it available to those who look it up, then how many people would try to sue?

I have found that the best sources of natural flavors that are identified are the things that say "organic" on the front of the box. These items will almost always say that they are from some sort of plant source. This is another reason for me to believe that the companies that do not produce organic products, are even more likely to be using animal byproducts in their foods.
Natural flavors seem to be the elephant in the room. Everyone who has ever read a food label knows that it is there; they just choose to ignore it because it seems to be easier that way. After all, it is just an additive to make the food taste better. However, it is still being consumed, and why not err on the side of caution? If there is a question as to what it actually is, maybe it should not be consumed in the first place.
How much money have companies like Kraft, etc. lost just from me? More than even I could possibly know. Just know this, because of what natural flavors could, potentially, be (meat), I no longer consume foods that contain them, if they are unidentified. I have had to completely change my way of shopping, and therefore, completely change most of the foods that I eat because of just this one mystery ingredient. How many others, like me, have done this? With any luck, more people (even omnivores) will want to become more aware of what they are putting in their bodies. Hopefully just this one ingredient will impact the food industry ten-fold, and maybe then packaging companies will start to specify what these ingredients actually come from. Until they do, they have lost, at least, my business.