Be aware of “natural”

While the word “natural” on products may sound great to you, oftentimes it is just a misleading way that food manufacturers use to try to give you the feeling that you are buying a healthier product than it really is. Unfortunately, this behavior is legal too. The USDA says that a product can be claimed as “natural” if it doesn’t contain preservatives or artificial ingredients and/or when ingredients are minimally processed. But, on the other hand, there are no restrictions about antibiotics and other similar chemicals.

I especially dislike the abuse of the word “natural” on chicken products. Some local supermarkets place the word “natural” on their regular chicken products, but the products include antibiotics and other goodies. To support the term they also use the word “fresh”, and also let you know that the product doesn’t include hormones and steroids. Luckily enough they have to at least let you know that Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones and steroids in poultry. But this sentence is usually barely readable so you can keep your false impression that the product goes the extra mile for you. They usually place this healthy looking, but also really cheap product, next to the high quality, organic, and expensive versions, so customers get confused. The result is that a lot of people end up buying natural instead of healthy organic chicken thinking that they are buying organic — or at least good alternative for a bargain price.

In my opinion, labeling food with the word “natural” is in most cases a scam and you need to go the extra mile if you don’t want to get tricked.