Natural food
"Natural foods" and "all natural foods" are widely used terms with various meanings and no legal definition. Natural foods are not usually organic foods and are not healthier or "better for you" than any other food.
Lack of formal definition
Although "natural foods" are often assumed to be foods that are minimally processed and do not contain any hormones, antibiotics, artificial sweeteners, food colors, or flavorings,[1] in reality, neither the FDA nor the USDA has rules for “natural”, and the FDA discourages the food industry from using the term.[2]
Fundamentally, almost all foodstuffs are derived from the natural products of plants and animals and therefore any definition of "natural food" results in an arbitrary exclusion or inclusion of food ingredients; likewise, since almost all foods are processed in some way, either mechanically, chemically, or by temperature, it is impossible to define which types of food processing is natural.[3]
Because there is no legal criteria for "natural foods", food manufacturers will often place a "natural" label on foods which contain heavily processed ingredients such as evaporated cane juice crystals (a fancy name for white sugar), vegetable glycerin, soy lecitin, monocalcium phosphate, and mixed tocopherols.[4] Furthermore, "natural foods" companies capitalize on consumer ignorance and make nutritional claims that have no basis in fact.
The poultry industry has come under fire by the Center for Science in the Public Interest for labeling chicken meat "all natural" after it has been injected with saline solution up to 25% of its weight, but there is no legal recourse to prevent this labeling since all foods known to man are "natural".[5]
Informal definitions
Although there is no legal U.S. definition for "natural foods", there are numerous unofficial or informal definitions, none of which are applied uniformly to foods labeled "natural". Some of the more common definitions:
- Oxford English Dictionary: "food that needs little or no processing; (in later use also) a food which contains no additives, a health food."[6]
- Merriam Webster: "food that has undergone minimal processing and contains no preservatives or artificial additives." [7]
- Encarta: "unprocessed food: food that has undergone no or minimal processing and contains no additives such as preservatives or artificial coloring."[8]
- Answers.com: "A term widely used but with little meaning and sometimes misleading since all foods come from natural sources. No legal definition seems possible but guidelines suggest the term should be applied only to single foods that have been subjected only to mild processing, i.e. largely by physical methods such as heating, concentrating, freezing, etc., but not chemically or ‘severely’ processed."
See also
References
- ^ Ikerd, John. The New American Food Economy.
- ^ IS THERE A DEFINITION FOR NATURAL FOODS?, Institute of Food Technologists, http://www.am-fe.ift.org/cms/?pid=1000744
- ^ Food processing: a century of change, R. W. Welch and P. C. Mitchell (2000) British Medical Bulletin, 56 (No 1) 1-17, http://bmb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/56/1/1-a.pdf
- ^ as an example, the Kashi Company ingredients list for Happy Trail Mix, http://www.kashi.com/products/nutrition_info/tlc_cookies_happy_trail_mix
- ^ Groups say many chickens not as 'all natural' as advertised, seek labeling changes, Los Angeles Times, February 24, 2010, http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-us-poultry-labeling,0,1637832.story
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 2009 Draft Revision.
- ^ Merriam Webster, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/natural%20food
- ^ Encarta: natural foods, http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861696699/natural_food.html
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