Food Fight
We all want to eat as healthily as we can, that’s a given. So is it a good idea to look for the word ‘natural’ on the labels of food we buy? Not so much, says Stacey Breidenstein, general manager of Liberty Heights Fresh.
“They have a perception of something that’s higher in quality, worth more, by stamping ‘natural’ on it,” she said.
Sarah Fossen, a registered dietitian with InterMountain Healthcare, says that natural is a very ambiguous term to put on a food label.
“The FDA does recommend if you’re going to use the word ‘natural,’ you don’t have any artificial flavoring, synthetic things that would normally not be in the food,” she said. “Sometimes we need to be the ones to flip over the label, do we understand what’s on the ingredient list? Getting hold of the producer might give you more information than what’s on the label alone.”
So what should we be looking for on the label? The thing we need to be looking for in food is that it’s high in nutrition and low in chemicals and the best way to do that hands down is to look for the ‘organic’ label, it’s going to be higher in nutrition and lower in chemicals.
In a survey of 1,000 people by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, nearly 60 percent of people said they look for the term ‘natural’ on food labels when they shop.
About two-thirds of people surveyed said they believe the term ‘natural’ means that a processed food has no artificial ingredients, pesticides or genetically modified organisms (GMOs). But in fact, the FDA has not developed a strict definition of the term for food labels. The agency says it won’t object to the claim ‘natural’ as long as there are no artificial or synthetic ingredients in a particular product.
The term ‘organic’, however, has an established legal definition in many countries, including the United States, as well as an agreed upon international standard. Therefore all natural and organic products are not the same.
Here’s a run-down of what those so-similar and yet so-different terms really mean.
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Natural: Food labeled ‘natural’, according to the USDA [US Department of Agriculture] definition, does not contain artificial ingredients or preservatives and the ingredients are only minimally processed. However, they may contain antibiotics, growth hormones, and other similar chemicals. Regulations are fairly lenient for foods labeled ‘natural.’ Labels are evaluated to prevent mislabeling but no inspections are conducted and producers are not required to be certified.
All Natural: The USDA does not define foods labeled ‘all natural’ as any different than those labeled ‘natural.’ Foods with this labeling are probably not any different than ‘natural’ foods and may not be regulated as they are not defined by the USDA.
Organic: Foods labeled ‘organic’ must consist of at least 95% organically produced ingredients and the other 5% must be approved on the National List provided by the USDA. They cannot be produced with any antibiotics, growth hormones, pesticides, petroleum or sewage-sludge based fertilizers, bioengineering, or ionizing radiation.
The USDA regulates organic product labels much more thoroughly than they do other product labels and, hence, foods labeled ‘organic’ are more likely to actually be organic.
100% Organic: Foods labeled ‘100% organic’ must consist of only organic ingredients and processing aids. The same controls and regulations are put in place as those used for foods labeled ‘organic.’
Made with Organic Ingredients: Foods with this labeling must consist of at least 70% organic ingredients and none of the ingredients can be produced with sewage-sludge based products or ionizing radiation. Labeling cannot include the USDA seal or the word ‘organic’ in any principle displays. Three of the organic ingredients can be included on the label and all organic ingredients should be identified in the ingredients list. The same controls and regulations are put in place as those use for foods labeled ‘organic.’
