I was reading labels the other day and wanted some juice. They put fluoride in the water here in Clearwater/St. Petersburg, Florida and I wanted something without that. I thought 100% orange juice would be safe. The front of the Tropicana bottle I had in my hand said:

100% JUICE

 

Then, out of habit I read the ingredients label:
100% PURE ORANGE JUICE FROM CONCENTRATE (FILTERED WATER AND CONCENTRATED ORANGE JUICE) AND NATURAL FLAVORS*
and in fine print below that it said “*Ingredient not found in regular orange juice.”

What the h*** is that?
That made me curious. So I checked the label on Naked Juice’s Green Machine:

In case you are wondering as I was, what are “natural flavors?”I checked out the FDA website for the definition. It contained some words only a food chemist would know, so I’ve simplified it here:

Any result of roasting, heating or enzyme action, which contains flavoring from a spice, fruit, vegetable, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf, plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermented products of these used for flavoring rather than nutrition.

I didn’t want any flavoring from meat, seafood, dairy, etc. in my orange juice or smoothie, so I chose real, actual 100% apple juice, not from concentrate.
However, the discovery made me wonder what’s hidden in other prepared foods and drinks with “natural flavors” on the label?