What does 'natural' mean? Some claims on food packages may be misleading

Vegetarian Times, Sept, 2004 by Alan Pell Crawford

* The appearance of the USDA organic label guarantees that food has been grown without conventional pesticides and fertilizers and developed without genetic engineering. For food to carry the USDA organic seal, government-approved certifiers must inspect the farms on which it is raised and the facilities of companies that handle it to verify that relevant USDA standards are met.

* Products with more than one ingredient--think breakfast cereals--may carry USDA organic labels if they include at least 70 percent organic ingredients. Products containing less than 70 percent organic ingredients may not use the word "organic" on the front label of a package; they may, however, use "organic" before the name of a specific item on an ingredients list.

* Although recent research indicates that organic fruits and vegetables may indeed be more nutritious than conventional produce, the USDA organic seal addresses only the way food is produced, not its nutritional value.

'Natural' Flavors?

Although food marketers can use the word "natural" with almost no legal restrictions, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does regulate the use of the adjective in the case of flavors. A "natural" flavor is one derived "from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf" and other--even animal--materials. This does not mean that reading the labels of products with natural flavors is without complications.

So how do you know if the flavors described in a list of ingredients are natural or artificial! According to the FDA, manufacturers must label artificial ingredients as such.

If a product's blueberry flavor is from natural sources only, it is acceptable for it to be labeled either "blueberry flavor" or "natural blueberry flavor." If a product contains both natural and artificial flavorings, it should be labeled "natural and artificial blueberry flavor."

Similar rules apply to the rest of the product's package. If the name of the product implies that a specific flavoring is used (for example. Blueberry Breakfast Bars), the manufacturer must put flavoring information close to the product name on the package. In this case, you could expect to see either "natural blueberry flavoring," "natural and artificial blueberry flavoring" or "artificial blueberry flavoring."

If there is no further information on an ingredients label than the term "natural flavoring" vegetarians should beware. As the legal definition of natural flavoring indicates, it can come from a plant or animal source, and animal products can turn up where you least expect them. When in doubt about what a product contains, call the company directly and ask.