Ingredients added to food to provide all or a part of the flavor. Spices, a unique category of flavorings which are given preferred legal status because of the long history of their use in foods, are pungent or aromatic substances of vegetable origin used in foods at levels that yield no significant nutritive value. Flavor is the perception of those characteristics of a substance taken orally that affect the senses of taste and olfaction. The term flavoring refers to a substance which may be a single chemical species or a blend of natural or synthetic chemicals whose primary purpose is to provide all or part of the particular flavor effect to any food or other product taken orally. Flavorings are categorized by source: animal, vegetable, mineral, and synthetic.