How are food and drink companies able to replicate intricate natural flavors with artificial ones?

Question

For instance, how does something taste like a tangerine when there is no actual tangerine juice in the food or drink?

In: 4

Answer 1

All food is made of various compounds/molecules. Taste is just chemistry. Biology is just applied chemistry.

What can be grown in nature can generally be replicated or approximated in a lab. You just have to analyze the components of the food.