We're buying more food labeled 'natural' and maybe we shouldn't
According to a market research company, when food shopping more than half of us look for the words: "natural" and "all natural" on products.
When it comes to food sales, the word "natural" has been marketing magic that translated into $40 billion last year.
What does "natural" mean when it comes to food? Currently, other than for meats, there's no legal definition.
This past January Consumer Reports took a closer look at what "natural" seems to mean to food companies that use the word on their labels and found some ... ahem ... not-so-natural ingredients.
They looked at Del Monte brand Fruit Naturals and found, besides fruit, artificial preservatives: potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate. Krakus brand Polish Sliced Ham "with natural juices" also included, as CR wrote: " ... five artificial chemicals used in part to cure and preserve the meat."
CR also mentioned a product many frequently use: Kraft Natural Cheese. It appears that cellulose powder, which CR explained is generally made from wood, bamboo or cotton cooked in a caustic solution, is in Kraft's "natural" cheese. Cellulose powder is supposed to keep shredded cheese from sticking together.
How does the FDA allow this mislabeling to happen when a spokeswoman for the FDA has been quoted as saying that the FDA considers "natural" to mean: "nothing artificial or synthetic (including all color additives regardless of source) has been included in, or has been added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in the food."
It seems that because the FDA currently has no clear legal definition for what is considered natural the FDA can't do much about it, even if the product doesn't currently follow the FDA's general guidelines.
Because the FDA has not always taken action for not following their intellectual guidelines, consumers have. According to a 2013 The Wall Street Journal article PepsiCo was sued for using the words "all natural" on its Lay's potato chips, Tostitos tortilla chips, multigrain SunChips and Rold Gold pretzels.
The suit alleged that genetically modified organisms, caramel color (not as benign as it may at first seem), citric acid and maltodextrin were not considered natural ingredients for those products. End result: the words "all natural" disappeared.
Now the FDA is working on defining what is and is not healthy. Here's a quick quiz: What's healthier for you: a one ounce serving of ripe avocado slices or the same one-ounce serving of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes?
Intuitively you could say: "That's easy Don, of course an avocado is healthier than a bowl of sugarcoated corn cereal."
Ummm ... No, not according the the FDA's criteria. Because an avocado has 4.6 fat grams per ounce and Kellogg's Frosted Flakes has zero fat per one ounce serving the FDA currently considers, due to comparison of their fat contents, that the avocado is not healthy and the cereal is.
How the FDA cannot take Kellogg's Frosted Flakes sugar content (almost one tablespoon per ounce) into consideration astounds me.
I think I'll stick to my common sense. An avocado's fat is healthy fat (right now). It's low in saturated fat (0.6 grams per ounce), contains virtually no sugar (0.1 grams) and is high in monounsaturated fat (a healthy fat) (2.9 grams).
I may not want to eat an avocado for breakfast, but I sure don't want to eat a tablespoon or two of sugar either.
Cabbage slaw tops my summer salad list. Last year I made homemade refrigerator pickles and this slaw is an excellent way to use some of that pickle juice, instead of throwing it away when the pickles are gone. Give it a try.
• Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write to him at don@ theleanwizard.com.