The "Not So Natural" Food Claim

By: Ali Al-Rajhi

When food companies have to slap a sticker claiming they use "all natural" ingredients, I start to
question if it's truly natural ingredients I'm consuming. I decided to take the initiative to do some
research and determine what is meant by "all-natural" and how companies are able to make such
claims - which are often misleading.
One medical doctor (Dr. Mercola) states that an "all natural" food label claim means "Zero.
Zilch. Nada. Zip;" and when you attempt to find a definition for the phrase "all natural," you can
notice that nothing is set in stone:
 "Natural foods" and "all natural foods" are widely used terms with various meanings and
no legal definition. Natural foods are not necessarily organic foods: - wikipedia.com
 Food that contains no artificial ingredients (eg, colors, flavors, preservatives and other
chemicals) and is only minimally processed (so the raw product is not fundamentally
altered): - vansfoods.com
 Made without artificial ingredients or preservatives. - snackaisle.com
What's even more surprising is that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "has no plans in
the near future to establish a definition of the term 'natural', saying it has other priorities
for its limited resources."
To my understanding, the FDA checks food labels,  to see whether or not the Nutrition Facts
panel is visible, rather than the accuracy of the information. In addition, the FDA allows for food
labels to be no more then 20 percent off before it violates federal law and that 10% of all food
labels contain inaccuracies in what they report."
So, what can you do?
 Buying locally is a start. Check out your local farmer's market where you can purchase
products without additives, antibiotics, growth hormones, etc. Also, you are supporting
the sustainability of these local farmers.
 Read the ingredients of the foods you are purchasing. The more natural the food is, the
less ingredients it will contain.
 When shopping at your local grocery store, look for Non-GMO products (Organic
Certified). Even then I question organic certified foods, but requirements to get
organically certified by the USDA are more stringent and it's an alternative for shoppers
who don't have access to a farmer's market.
 If you have an iPhone, you can download a Non-GMO shopping guide free from the App
store by searching "ShopNoGMO."
Buying healthy, safe foods might require you to put in some effort as far as preparing in advance
and to knowing what to look for, but in the end your are doing it for your health.