Charlotte Observer, NC
07-21-06
Can `natural' be man-made?
Debate raging over what claims can be made on food labels
BARRY SHLACHTER
McClatchy Newspapers
FORT WORTH, Texas - Jana Morgan considers herself a careful shopper who
nonetheless was somewhat stumped when asked whether she considered highfructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated vegetable oil -- a sweetener and a
fat widely used by food manufacturers -- to be "natural."
"I am not really sure. I know `organic,' " said Morgan, who operates a UPS Store
in Fort Worth with her husband. "My assumption is that a lot of processed food
will not be purely natural."
The federal Agriculture Department clearly defines "natural" when applied to
labeling meat and poultry: no artificial or synthetic ingredients, including added
hormones, and minimally processed.
But the Food and Drug Administration says it has no plans to do likewise for the
galaxy of groceries it regulates. With no clear definition, confusion and even
controversy have been generated. Consumer groups are urging that the FDA
restrict the use of the word "natural" and demand that food manufacturers stop
being so free with it on labeling until the government acts. This spring, one
organization threatened legal action against a popular soft drink, "100 percent
natural" 7UP.
"Natural means nothing," said Urvashi Rangan, a toxicologist and a senior
scientist at Consumer Reports, which has urged government action. "You have to
flip the box over and examine the ingredient list. You've got to do your
homework. But there's no requirement for what the ingredients have to be, to be
considered `natural.' "
The resulting vacuum has allowed manufacturers and supermarket chains to
divine their own, often conflicting, definitions.
Critics say products labeled "natural" or "all-natural" should contain neither highfructose corn syrup nor hydrogenated vegetable oil, whose trans fatty acids are
created in an industrial process.
Whole Foods, for example, does not sell "natural"-labeled foods if they contain
hydrogenated oil.
Kroger, the nation's biggest food retailer after Wal-Mart, sells a store-brand
granola, "100 percent natural cereal," that contains partially hydrogenated
cottonseed and soybean oil. But none of its natural-category products include
high-fructose corn syrup, Kroger spokesman Gary Huddleston says.
Zone Perfect All-Natural Nutrition Bars, made by a unit of Abbott Laboratories,
have no hydrogenated oil but do have high-fructose corn syrup.
And the newly reformulated "100 percent natural" 7UP similarly uses the
ubiquitous corn-derived sweetener.
Studies have linked hydrogenated oil, which contains trans fatty acids, to heart
disease. The Harvard University School of Public Health, which has warned
about health risks of the highly processed oil since the early 1990s, said in an
April study that removing trans fats from the industrial food supply could prevent
tens of thousands of heart attacks and cardiac deaths each year.
Although high-fructose corn syrup has detractors, scientists have yet to find a
conclusive link to obesity and have not determined whether it's any less healthy
than other sweeteners, says Marion Nestle, a New York University nutritionist
and author of "What to Eat."
But although consumer groups argue that calling the corn sweetener "natural"
misleads the public, manufacturers maintain it's as natural as other approved
additives.
With the organic and natural market burgeoning, billions of dollars are at stake.
Strict guidelines govern the growing and processing of organic food products, but
industry analysts frequently lump them with so-called natural items as a segment
category.
Sales for all-natural and organic products will soar to $46.1 billion in 2010 from
$28.3 billion in 2005, predicts Packaged Facts, a New York market-research firm.
Although the Iowa State University Agricultural Marketing Resource Center
says organic foods are outpacing natural ones in sales growth, products labeled
all-natural were the most frequent "positive" new product category in North
America during 2003, according to Mintel, a research firm. One study has shown
that shoppers are willing to pay 30 percent more for food products labeled
"natural."