“Natural Food” May Not Be What Consumers Expect

The labeling for natural foods is a murky intersection of marketing and law. A consumer’s definition of “natural” might vary from the one used by food producers or government regulatory agencies. As a result, consumers might not be getting the food they’ve been led to expect.

The thing about natural food labeling is that, as a marketing ploy, it seems to work. Consumer surveys show that labeling using terms like “Natural,” “All Natural” or “100% Natural” give the impression that the food is healthier than it may actually be.

As a result, some companies have been eager to add “natural” labeling to products that may not reasonably fit that description. Nestle received some negative attention in 2009 regarding its product labeled “Juicy Juice All Natural 100% Juice,” in which juice was not actually the main ingredient. A spread marketed as “All Natural” by Key Ingredient Market in 2013 turned out to contain imitation crab meat and artificial flavoring.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, charged with regulating the way food companies promote their products, has been less than forceful in its oversight of the labeling of all natural foods. The FDA tends not to object to such labeling as long as the product does not contain any artificial or synthetic ingredients or any added coloring, regardless of the coloring’s source. Where the product does not meet those requirements, the FDA has responded with letters of complaint to the manufacturer. Policy groups continue to lobby the FDA to adopt a formal definition of “natural” and to back it up with more rigorous enforcement.

GMO Labeling

Genetically-modified organisms, or GMOs, are another hot-button issue, and food companies are quick to address GMOs in their natural food labeling. Because GMOs are so pervasive in U.S. food now – almost all corn and soybeans in the U.S. are genetically modified – labels touting that a product is “non-GMO” or “GMO-free” can draw some reasonable scrutiny.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced a new program that allows companies to get their products certified as free from GMOs. The process would require the companies to pay the USDA a fee for the certification. Once the product passes muster, it can be labeled “USDA Process Verified.”

The FDA, however, tends to limit its oversight of non-GMO foods to whether the final product is safe for consumers and does not concern itself much with the veracity of labeling claims such as “GMO-free.” As long as the final product meets FDA safety specs, the agency leaves the choice of labeling to the company.

While regulation at the federal level has been comparatively lax, some states have stepped in with their own labeling requirements. The state of Vermont enacted legislation requiring all GMO-containing food to be labeled as such by July 2016.

Organic Products

Natural foods labeled “organic,” even those that comply with USDA requirements, may not be exactly what consumers might reasonably expect them to be. For produce, the USDA organic certification seal means the fruit or vegetables were grown without “irradiation, sewage sludge, synthetic fertilizers, prohibited pesticides, and genetically modified organisms.”

For livestock to earn the USDA organic label, it must be raised on 100 percent organic feed and without antibiotics or growth hormones, and the producers must also meet certain animal health and welfare standards. However, multi-ingredient foods need not be purely organic to get a USDA organic seal: only 95 percent of the ingredients must be certified organic. Processed foods with only 70 percent organic ingredients are allowed to have a label stating “made with organic ingredients.”

Free All-Natural Food Label Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

Did you purchase a food product because the label said it was “Natural,” “All Natural,” “100% Natural” or used a similar term?

Some food products labeled “Natural,” “All Natural,” or “100% Natural” are not, in fact, natural because they contain unnatural ingredients, such as artificial additives, synthetic vitamins, and/or chemical preservatives.

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