Both the male and female North American beaver anally secrete castoreum, a yellowish substance that happens to claim the warm, inviting scent of vanilla. The substance, which has the consistency of molasses, is utilized to mark their territories. The substance is extracted from the beaver's castor sac scent glands, which are located near the anus. After extraction, it is processed with rubbing alcohol and obtains a very strong musky aroma, caused by the high fiber diet of the beavers. The close proximity of the glands to the anus means contamination consisting of anal secretions and urine is common.
The Food and Drug Administration classifies castoreum as an GRAS additive, meaning it is "generally recognized as safe." Castoreum has been being added to our food disguised as "natural flavoring" for decades now. While it is natural, and the International journal of Toxicology announced that the consumption of castoreum posed no single health threat to the human body, I don't think most people imagine it means having anal secretions in their cereal. It is mainly used as a substitute vanilla in foods and beverages, but it is also used in raspberry and strawberry flavoring, and flavoring for schnapps. Real vanilla is used more commonly, though, at about 2.6 million pounds annually in the U.S. Annual industry consumption for castoreum is just above 300 pounds. Castoreum can also be used for flavoring and odor of cigarettes. The individual annual consumption of the extract is approximately .000081 mg/kg/day.
Beaver populations were at risk during the 19th century due to the demand for castoreum sac's, and getting a beaver to emit castoreum is not easy. A beaver's anal glands must be milked in order to extract the fluid.
The following are the types of foods you can find castoreum in:
Reported Uses PPM (parts per million) (FEMA* 1994):
| Food Category | Usual | Max |
| Alcoholic Beverages | 79.59 | 93.69 |
| Baked Goods | 62.28 | 68.47 |
| Gelatins, Puddings | 43.58 | 47.34 |
| Soft Candy | 37.28 | 44.10 |
| Frozen Dairy | 24.39 | 26.26 |
| Nonalcoholic Beverages | 24.21 | 29.77 |
| Hard Candy | 24.17 | 24.17 |
| Chewing Gum | 18.60 | 42.09 |
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