Are “Natural Flavors” Vegan? They Can Hide Animal Products

“Natural flavors” is one of the most reassuring-sounding phrases on a label, and one of the least specific. It suggests fruit and herbs. In reality, the legal definition of a natural flavor explicitly includes animal sources, so a product that says “natural flavors” can contain an animal-derived ingredient without telling you which one.

Key Takeaways

• “Natural flavors” does not mean plant-based. The FDA definition includes meat, seafood, eggs and dairy as possible sources.
• The label almost never says which source a natural flavor came from.
• “Natural” vs “artificial” is about the source, not about health or safety.
• To be sure, look for a vegan certification, contact the brand, or scan the product.

TL;DR: “Natural flavors” is not automatically vegan. The FDA allows natural flavors to come from animal sources, including meat, seafood, eggs and dairy, and labels rarely say which one was used.

What “natural flavor” legally means

The definition is buried in US regulation, and it is worth reading closely. Under 21 CFR 101.22, a natural flavor is a substance whose purpose is flavor, and whose source is a spice, fruit, vegetable, herb, bark, root, leaf, yeast, or “meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof” (Cornell Law, 21 CFR 101.22, retrieved 2026-08-25). That last clause is the part most shoppers never see.

So a “natural flavor” can legally be derived from beef, chicken, fish or milk. The word “natural” refers to the fact that the flavor comes from a natural source, not that the source is a plant.

Why this is a problem for vegans and vegetarians

A vegan reading “natural flavors” on a bag of chips has no way to know whether the flavor came from a vegetable or from animal tissue. Treehugger frames the issue the same way: the term is ambiguous for anyone avoiding animal products, because the source is not disclosed (Treehugger, retrieved 2026-08-25).

This is different from an ingredient like “whey,” which is clearly dairy. “Natural flavors” is a black box. A meat-flavored snack can list “natural flavors” and a vegetable-flavored one can too, and the two labels look identical.

”Natural” is not a health claim

It is worth separating two ideas. “Natural flavor” and “artificial flavor” are a regulatory distinction about where the flavor molecule came from. The FDA treats them as functionally similar once the flavor is made. “Natural” is not a synonym for “safe,” “clean” or “plant-based.” It just means the starting material was natural.

How to check

1. Look for a vegan certification logo, which rules out animal-derived flavors.
2. Contact the brand and ask the source of their natural flavors.
3. Choose products that name the flavor source (for example, “vanilla extract” instead of “natural flavor”).
4. Scan the product. A scanner app flags ambiguous and animal-derived ingredients against your diet automatically.

Natural flavors are one of several ingredients where the label hides more than it reveals. See our E-numbers cheat sheet for the others.

The bottom line

“Natural flavors” is not a guarantee of anything except that the flavor came from a natural source, which can include animals. If you need certainty, certification, a brand answer or a scanner is the way to get it.

Check before you eat. The Verify Veg app scans a barcode or reads an ingredient list from a photo and flags ingredients against your diet (vegan, vegetarian, halal, kosher, Jain and more). Download on the App Store - Android is coming soon.

Written by Samir Narain, founder of Verify Veg. Verify Veg helps people check packaged food against their diet by scanning barcodes and reading ingredient lists from photos.

Note: Verify Veg provides ingredient-based compatibility checks, not certification. Ingredient sources can vary by manufacturer, so always confirm with the brand or vendor.