As critically thinking consumers are beginning to realize, food labels are not immune to the elusive wordplay and downright deception used by major manufacturers and advertisers. The use of words like “natural” and “organic” on custom product labels, for example, is so widespread that many consumers can’t distinguish between the two. Worse still, supposed regulators like the USDA and the FDA use ambiguous language when setting labeling standards.
The following insights into the natural and organic labeling standards, or lack thereof, imposed on food manufacturers will reveal the truth about these purportedly healthy products.
Natural Labeling Standards
The USDA defines natural foods on one of their food labeling fact sheets as minimally processed, additive-free products. Nowhere on the website, or on any other agency website, is there a list of ingredients that cannot be used. Similarly, according to an executive report released by the Food Marketing Institute,
“Most foods labeled natural are not subject to government controls beyond the regulations and health codes that apply to all foods.”
This means that farmers and food handlers can use the same pesticides, fumigants, and petroleum-based neurotoxins on natural foods that they use on products without the label. Realistically, the current definition of a natural food product was made amorphous so that companies could circumvent the rules without penalty. Now that natural products are available in over 70 percent of grocery stores, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Division, consumers are being misled on a global scale.
Organic Labeling Standards
According to the National Agricultural Library, organic foods are produced in adherence with the National Organic Program, which dictates proper farming, processing, and preservation methods. The National Organic Program describes three major tiers of organic labeling, under which different standards must be observed. Products that are “100 percent organic,” for example, must be fully comprised of organic ingredients. The “made with organic ingredients” label must describe a product that contains more than 70 percent organic ingredients, and products with less than 70 percent organic ingredients are allowed to cite the ingredients on the information panel. So what exactly is an organic food product, and how is it produced?
The National Organic Program acknowledges a food as organic when it is produced per NOP specifications regarding pesticide use, wild crop harvesting methods, handling methods, treatment of livestock, and other standards. An organic egg, for example, must be produced by a cage-free hen that was fed a strictly organic diet. Any added ingredients must be on the “allowed” portion of the government’s Allowed and Prohibited Substances list. Organic farms are subject to inspection by state programs to maintain their accreditation and keep the organic label. While organic foods are more regulated than natural foods, they are still eight times as likely to be recalled for contamination issues, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The best policy for health-conscious consumers trying to decipher the diplomatic dribble of companies and government agencies is to research thoroughly. Research the pesticides used in foods, and which foods require the least amount. Pay attention to the shelf life, smells, residues, and textures of food products. Finally, if you want to change the equation for all of your fellow consumers, apply some much-needed pressure on government agencies and food companies.
One more problem with marking, I believe, that many manufacturers try to make their products look healthier.
Easiest examples – Diet Coke or Potato Chips with 25% less fat (or salt). Nothing related to health or fitness, but sounds like this.
“Organic food” label sometimes just put on food that looks less beautiful than normal. E.g. organic apple will generally will have spots and dots, and seem generally worse 🙂 – but it does not have relation to how organically these are produced, just to the particular cultivar.
Any denatured food out there that is labeled as “organic” or “natural” is a deception. Seedless grapes, watermelon and oranges are a prime example if this because the only reason that they continue to perpetuate is because humans have kept them perpetuating in ways that defy the natural course of anything that goes seedless! They die out!!!
Also, taking plants out of their original state for whatever reason is de-naturing them.
Oils/fats (regardless of the plants or animals that they are extracted from) do not contribute in healthy ways to our physical, spiritual, emotional/psychological health and well-being in the selfsame way that they would if we were working with instead of against the whole of nature which God has most certainly created!
“Pastas” in all of their twisted and distorted out-of-nature forms, and fake meats and cheeses and isolated proteins barely scratch the surface of this human and animal sterilizing lie.
The truth being is that we are selling ourselves short! sacrificing and selling our health and well-being and the future generations of humanity and indeed the whole of nature on the golden calf altars of convenience, ignorance and want to the detriment of all.