GIVEN THE RECENT rise in food additive scaremongering, it was only a matter of TikToks before “beaver butt” started trending. Yes, beaver butt.
The term was popularized by Vani Hari, aka "The Food Babe," back in 2022 to shine a light on how the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gives companies leeway with what's marked as "natural flavor" on a food's ingredients list.
"The food industry can use virtually ANYTHING found in nature and label it as 'natural flavors,'" she captioned one Instagram video. "These flavors work against you, getting you addicted to processed food using the best part of a taste or even a smell."
Beaver butt talk is bubbling up yet again, with claims that "beaver booty" shows up in products like instant oatmeal. "The natural flavors comes from beaver ass,” says one ‘gram. Another poster referred to the natural flavor as "juice from a beaver's butthole" to try to steer people toward an electrolyte supplement that presumably doesn't contain this ingredient.
What the hell is going on here? Scott Keatley, RD, cofounder of Keatley Medical Nutrition Therapy, says that online claims aren't quite accurate—and there are two big reasons you don’t really have to worry about any of this.
Beaver butt? Really?
HARI IS CORRECT that "beaver butt" secretions are an FDA-approved natural flavoring. The flavoring is actually called castoreum, and it's a scent-marking substance derived from pouches called castor sacs near a beaver's anus, Keatley explains.
"The nickname has some geographical accuracy," he says. "The ingredient used in flavoring is an extract of that material.” Castoreum may show up in foods simply as "natural flavor" because it meets the FDA's criteria for natural flavoring. Per the FDA:
The term natural flavor or natural flavoring means the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.
Which brings us to a question you may or may not be asking yourself.
What does "beaver butt" taste like?
ONCE PROCESSED AND DILUTED, castoreum can deliver warm, sweet notes that work well with vanilla flavors, according to Keatley.
"Castoreum gave flavor-makers another way to build that complexity, adding a musky, sometimes slightly smoky character that could round out a sweet flavor," he says. "The goal wasn’t for you to taste beaver, but for the vanilla-flavored dessert to have a fuller, more interesting flavor."
Okay then.
How concerned about beaver butt should you be?
NOT VERY. WHILE castoreum is considered a natural flavor, it doesn’t show up in a lot of foods.
"Castoreum is rarely used in food [but] is recognized as safe for its intended flavoring use," Keatley says. Instead, many companies have resorted to using artificial flavors to get the same taste or they simple use real vanilla.
There is also an animal welfare concern with castoreum. "Commercial castoreum has often been a byproduct of the fur trade, with the castor sacs removed from killed beavers," Keatley says. "Those sacs and their contents are dried, broken down, and extracted with hot alcohol to draw out the aromatic compounds." The extract is then used in small amounts for flavor.
"There's a legitimate animal-sourcing concern, even if the food-safety scare is overblown," Keatley says. But overall, castoreum is not something most people need to worry about in their food, he says.
No if, ands, or beaver butts about it.
Korin Miller is a seasoned freelance writer specializing in general wellness, sexual health and relationships, and lifestyle trends, with work appearing in Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Everyday Health, Food & Wine, and more. She has a master’s degree from American University and lives by the beach.