Demystifying Food Labels

Recently, I posted a blog about the FDA changing food labels.  However, due to the nature of these labels, there is still a large amount of confusion as to what certain words mean when it comes to foods.  I came across another article that talks about food labels and how to demystify them.

A summary of the definitions mentioned in the article is as follows:

Organic – this means that the product must consist of 95% organic ingredients, and the other 5% must be on a list created by the USDA.  “Organically produced ingredients may not involve the following things:  antibiotics, growth hormones, pesticides, petroleum or sewage-sludge based fertilizers, bioengineering, or ionizing radiation.”

Natural- By USDA definition, natural products are not allowed to contain artificial ingredients or preservatives, and the rest of their ingredients must be “minimally processed,” meaning that they cannot be altered on a fundamental level.

Local- According to the USDA, local is defined as “related to the distance between food producers and consumers,” and “defined in terms of social and supply chain characteristics.”

Sustainable-  “Sustainable agriculture”  as defined by Congress in the 1990 Farm Bill is describes as agriculture “in which it was associated with being safe and enhancing for the environment, and efficient in terms of resources and integrating natural biological cycles”.   

Free Range-  Free Range is defined as animals not allowed to be contained in any way.

Gluten-Free- This is as it says – this product does not contain any gluten.  People with digestive issues, especially celiac disease need to look for these labels.

GMO-Free-The  FDA does not currently require foods that contain genetically modified organisms to be labeled.  I find it interesting that big food manufacturers have spent millions of dollars in lobbying to defeat initiatives requiring this food to be labeled.  At the moment, there are no labels for this.

Here is the link to the original article.  Please contact me if you have any questions.

To Your Health!

Dr. Harvey