Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good

Most students of chemistry are unaware of opportunities and challenges in the flavors and fragrances industry. In fact, few of us realize how much the processed food we eat is "enhanced" by additives. Eric Schlosser does an excellent job in this article of explaining the difference between so-called "natural" and "artificial" flavors and colors, and describing the 1.4 billion dollar per year industry that introduces 10,000 new processed-food products every year in the United States. Did you know that methyl anthranilate, discovered by accident, is the chief flavoring agent in grape Kool-Aid, or that one of the compounds isolated from bell peppers can be detected at 0.02 ppb? This article is an excerpt from the book, "Fast Food Nation".