August 5, 2014 - All Natural Label Means Nothing

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Tuesday, August 5, 2014 - Don’t be misled by the label ‘All Natural’. There are no defined parameters in place in order for a manufacturer to claim any product is “all natural,” because the FDA has no standard set. “The FDA has not developed a definition for use of the term natural or its derivatives. However, the agency has not objected to the use of the term if the food does not contain added color, artificial flavors, or synthetic substances.”  So while the foods can’t include synthetic ingredients, they can be heavily processed, such as animals raised with antibiotics, growth hormones, insecticides, GMO’s and glyphosate residues.
 
Years ago, before the biotech industry had taken over most of the major farms of the U.S. our grandparent and parent could easily obtain food that could accurately be labeled “all natural.”  Today, “All Natural” means whatever food manufacturers want it to mean. 
 
Even the label ‘organic’ can be confusing, as there are 3 different categories:
  • 100 percent organic - Foods that don’t contain any non-organic ingredients can be labeled as 100% organic.
  • Organic - Foods can be labeled simply “organic” if they contain 95 percent organic ingredients, and the other 5 percent do not contain growth hormones.
  • Made with organic ingredients - Foods that have at least 70 percent organically produced ingredients can use the term “made with organic ingredients.” Thus, up to 30 percent of the contents could be non-organic.
According to The New York Times, the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) is pushing the FDA to allow biotech transgenic GMO  “frankenfood” to bear the “natural” label in grocery stores. Though quite a few so-called “natural” food products already contain GMOs due to the fact that the FDA has never issued definitive guidelines as to the legal definition of the term “natural,” the GMA wants this regulatory failure to become official policy.
 
Don’t fall for the “all natural” scam. Stick with organic, grow your own, buy from your local farmers and ask questions about how they treat their vegetables, fruits and animals too. 
 
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Health Basics: The label ‘All Natural’ means absolutely nothing

Posted Thursday, February 20, 2014 by: S. D. Wells
Tags: all natural, deceptive labeling, organic foods

(Natural News) How many people don’t read Natural News or research organic food and are falling for scams, right and left, thinking they are eating somewhat healthy food and avoiding cancer? We’re not talking thousands or hundreds of thousands or even a million people; instead, we are talking about hundreds of millions of people who eat a little bit of cancer every day yet still say “everything in moderation.” Little do they know!
 
There are simply no defined parameters in place in order for a manufacturer to claim any product is “all natural” because the FDA has no standard set. One typical misleading “all natural” product is the massively popular synthetic sweetener Splenda. The core ingredient, of course, is sucralose, which is just two letters “fatter” than sucrose (actual table sugar). Though the “starting point” for manufacturing Splenda is sucrose, the “natural” part is vaporized during the manufacturing process, and you can bet your mutated cells that, when it comes out of the laboratory, it’s not what your body wants to try to break down. (http://www.naturalnews.com)
 
Are you one of those millions of “natural” shoppers who buy “all natural” products and think you are doing it “right”? You are moderate about what you eat that’s toxic, right? -- Just like they say, “Everything in moderation” -- Nope. Not anymore. Those were the “old days,” when mom and pop grocery stores and street vendors carried fresh, untainted produce (like they still do in Europe) that REALLY WAS ALL NATURAL for your grandparents to buy, or your parents, and biotech hadn’t taken over most of the major farms of the U.S. Midwest. Those were the old days before fluoridated tap water and giving kids 25 vaccines before the age of six. That was when “all natural” meant something. (http://www.naturalnews.com)
 
Today, if you don’t eat 70% raw organic vegetables and fruits, you could be in for a rude awakening. If you don’t watch everything you eat and read every label on every item you buy, including those personal care items you put on your skin -- your largest organ -- well, then you could be in for bad news from your WITCH DOCTOR -- that allopathic, apathetic and often pathetic excuse to NOT WATCH what you eat, what you drink and what you put on your body. Biotech and the GMA, Grocery Manufactures Association, want GMOs to be labeled “all natural” -- didn’t you hear? They’re petitioning the FDA right now: (http://www.naturalnews.com).
 
Do you know even the difference between all natural and organic? It’s huge! Do you know the difference between “all natural” and GMO? Maybe there isn’t one anymore. The research is right in front of your face, so open your eyes and stop buying cancer-causing foods. One in every three U.S. shoppers will get cancer this year? Will it be you?
 
“All Natural” could mean food by-products that are NOT products of the earth
 
How do you genetically modify food and pretend that it’s natural? That is the goal of Biotech. Put pesticide and insecticide inside seeds, grow the food, and say it came from Mother Earth that way. Genetically mutated food causes mutation of human cells, and if you haven’t checked lately, that is the definition of cancer. From the food science perspective, “all natural” usually means the wool is being pulled over your eyes, and what you are eating is most likely not created by the earth but by scientists in labs in order to save Big Food money by killing the insects, worms and weeds that cut into profits. So what if there are “no added colors or artificial flavors” when the food kills pests. You are a pest to the government if you are NOT SICK, especially when Obamacare kicks in.
 
What food is really authentic, wholesome and natural? High-fructose corn syrup, my friends, is the furthest thing from all natural; still, the attempt is being made to call it all natural.
 
“All natural” means whatever food manufacturers want it to mean. It solves whatever “problem” Big Food wants it to solve. The FDA and the USDA do not care who uses the term or for what food byproducts. “All natural” does not mean something is good for high blood pressure, or low in table salt. “All natural” does not mean less calories, bad fat, GMO or less bug killer. Don’t be a stupid shopper. Know the difference between organic and CERTIFIED ORGANIC as well.
 
The ‘All Natural’ meat joke
 
“All natural” is a joke, a hoax, a scam -- to lead you down the wrong path. Do you really think when you buy “all natural” products that you are filtering out carcinogens from your intake and that you aren’t getting steroidal hormones given to animals to beef them up? You’re wrong. “The other white meat” and “eat less red meat” are scams too. If your allopathy-prescribed antibiotics aren’t working, its most likely because you’ve been eating antibiotics in your “all natural” foods. You better do some homework there.
 
Don’t fall for the “all natural” scam. Don’t eat cancer-causing food. Stick with organic, grow your own, buy from your local farmers and ask questions about how they treat their vegetables, fruits and animals too. Be the smartest consumer you know. Your life, health and vitality is worth it. Build up immunity to the fake food world by consuming superfoods and alkalizing your body. Learn more about natural remedies from real research and the best nutritionists in the world. (http://blog.fooducate.com)

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Understanding the misdirection of food labels

Monday, February 17, 2014 by: Elisha McFarland
Tags: reading food labels, FDA, organic foods
 
(Natural News) Understanding food labels can be a daunting task -- some terms are just marketing hype, while others are terms that are sanctioned by the USDA or FDA.

Food labels are managed in tandem by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). While the USDA handles meats, animal products, grains and produce, the FDA takes care of grocery items and many of the labels related to nutrition characteristics, like fat content, calories and vitamins.
 
What does the term “natural” mean on a food label?
 
In a short answer nothing. The term natural has no FDA guideline behind it. The information taken directly from their site states the following: “The FDA has not developed a definition for use of the term natural or its derivatives. However, the agency has not objected to the use of the term if the food does not contain added color, artificial flavors, or synthetic substances.”  So while the foods can’t include synthetic ingredients, they can be heavily processed, such as animals raised with antibiotics and growth hormones. High fructose syrup (sometimes referred to as corn sugar) is a natural substance, but producing it from raw corn requires a number of processing steps.
 
What does the term “fresh” mean on food labels?
 
According to the fda.gov site, it means different things for different foods. So before you think fresh means something good, think again. According to Subpart F, Section 101.95 C , food manufacturers are not precluded from using the term fresh on their products even if they are using “approved” waxes or coatings, post harvest approved pesticides, applying mild chlorine or mild acid wash, or ionizing radiation. 
 
What does the term “organic” mean on a food label?
 
According to the USDA there are three categories for the term organic:
  • 100 percent organic - Foods that don’t contain any non-organic ingredients can be labeled as “100 percent organic”.
  • Organic - Foods can be labeled simply “organic” if they contain 95 percent organic ingredients, and the other 5 percent do not contain growth hormones.
  • Made with organic ingredients - Foods that have at least 70 percent organically produced ingredients can use the term “made with organic ingredients”. That’s right - up to 30 percent of the contents could be non-organic.

What does the term “Made With” mean on a food label?
 
If you see this term on packages, it’s safe to assume that there is some misdirection going on with the labeling. If a label says 100 percent real fruit juice, then its 100 percent percent juice, but if it says made with 100 percent fruit juice, check the label to see else may be included.
 
What does the term “Good Source Of”/”Contains”/”Provides” mean on a food label?
 
When foods claim to be a good source of a particular vitamin or nutrient, they must prove that they have at least 10 percent of the USDA’s recommended daily allowance. 
 
What does the term “High Source Of”/”Rich In”/”Excellent Source Of” mean on a food label?
 
When foods claim to be a high source of a particular vitamin or nutrient, they must prove that they have at least 20 percent of the USDA’s recommended daily allowance.

Become a label reader
 
In order to safeguard your health and know what you’re truly consuming, you need to become a label reader. All commercially grown and processed foods have challenges. Your knowledge is your greatest strength.
 
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Grocery Manufacturers Association pushing FDA to allow GMOs to be labeled ‘natural’
 
Wednesday, January 08, 2014 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: Grocery Manufacturers Association, GMOs, natural label
 
(NaturalNews) Not content with just hiding unlabeled genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the general food supply, the biotechnology industry now wants to freely add GMOs to food products bearing the “natural” label as well, according to new reports. The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) back in December reportedly sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asking for permission to basically trick health-conscious individuals into buying transgenic foods by deceitfully hiding them behind “natural” labels.
 
Though quite a few so-called “natural” food products already contain GMOs due to the fact that the FDA has never issued definitive guidelines as to the legal definition of the term “natural,” the GMA wants this regulatory failure to become official policy. According to The New York Times, the GMA is pushing the FDA to allow biotech “frankenfood” to bear the “natural” label in grocery stores -- “natural” foods, as you may already know, typically fetch a higher price than conventional foods.
 
“Last month, ‘Big Food,’ in the form of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), a trade organization that represents more than 300 businesses, sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advising that it intends to petition the agency to allow foods containing GMOs to be labeled as ‘natural,’” writes Cookson Beecher for Food Safety News about the issue.
 
The letter comes as public awareness about GMOs is soaring, with consumers increasingly keeping an eye out for all those transgenic lurkers hiding throughout the food supply. Many food manufacturers are now being exposed for taking advantage of the loosely regulated “natural” label, which has become something of a crafty inroad for mass biotech deception, hence GMA’s sudden interest in altogether redefining the word “natural.”
 
“Audacious” is the word chosen by Scott Faber, vice president of the Environmental Working Group, to describe the situation. “It’s like they’re trying to get the government to say night is day and black is white.”
 
Biotech industry claims GMOs are ‘natural’ while hypocritically insisting they are unnatural enough to be patented
 
This is hardly an exaggerated assessment, of course, as there is literally nothing natural about GMOs. Their entire genetic blueprint, as you probably already know, has been reorganized in a laboratory to express certain unnatural traits while subduing other natural ones. GMOs are the antithesis of natural, in other words, which is why biotech companies claim to hold patents on them.
 
But somehow, in the eyes of the industry, GMOs magically become “natural” when it comes to the rest of us eating them unlabeled in our food supply.
 
“Earlier this year, more than 200 members of the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility signed a statement declaring that there is no scientific consensus on the safety of GMOs,” stated Katherine Paul, director of communications for the Organic Consumers Association to Food Navigator USA about the issue.
 
“Yet the FDA continues to put consumers at risk by siding with industry. Fortunately, consumers are having a direct impact on the sales and brand images of manufacturers who continue to put GMO ingredients, unlabeled, into their products.”
 
As far as public pushback against this latest affront to truth in labeling, the GMA admits that at least 65 class-action lawsuits have been filed against food companies for deceptively using the term “natural” on GMO-containing food products. If GMA has its way, however, these lawsuits will ultimately be struck down, and consumers looking for truly natural food will be forced to ditch all those “natural” imposters in favor of their certified organic and non-GMO counterparts.
 
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