Speaking in Code

 Walking up and down the supermarket aisles we, as consumers, are bombarded with a plethora of words and phrases, designed to grab our attention.  Its becoming more and more commonplace to see words like "all-natural" on product packaging, typically designed to evoke a sense that what you are buying is good for you and good for the earth - which unfortunately, is not always the case.  On the other side of the coin, ingredient labels are often filled with long words that some of us can't even pronounce, with the opposite intent of masking the identity of ingredients which are less than desirable.  Very minimal regulations surrounding the use of these terms on food labeling exist, so it is up to us - the buyers - to crack the code and realize what we are actually buying and consuming.
Here are some commonly used terms and their meanings, clarified:

1.  "Natural" -  This word is likely used by companies in an attempt to convince you that their product is made of natural ingredients, as compared to other products which are "unnatural" or artificial.  Unfortunately, companies have almost complete leeway with using this term, with very few restrictions.  Currently the only FDA restrictions that exist on using the word natural are:

   - natural flavor can only be used to describe flavorings that are derived from from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant (or even animal) material

- Meat products can be labeled as natural only if they are minimally processed (of course, this term is left up to the meat producers to decide what "minimally" means) and free of artificial ingredients or colors.  Please note that this is regarding added ingredients, and means nothing about what the animal consumed, was fed, or hormones or antibiotics that it may have ingested during its life

 Other than these two restrictions, companies are pretty much free to slap the word "natural" on their box without consequence.  Most of the time common sense can come into play here - "natural" or not, a pop tart will never be "healthy".  It is important that we do not confuse "natural" with "organic".  Which brings me to my next term...


2. "Organic" -  In 2002 the USDA established standards surrounding organic food products and labeling requirements.  For a food to be labeled "USDA Organic", it must contain at least 95% organic ingredients which are free from pesticides, growth hormones, chemical fertilizers, and antibiotics.  If a product's ingredients all meet this criteria, it can be labeled "100% USDA Organic" if the company so chooses. The final, least restrictive label allowable by this law is "made with organic ingredients", which requires that the product contain at least 70% organic ingredients.  For a company to use these labels, a certified member of the USDA must inspect the facility where the food is produced and declare that it meets current standards.  If a product is not USDA-Certified Organic, there is no guarantee that what you are ingesting is actually organic.  You may need to do some individual research on these brands before deciding they are right for you.  Another way to find out if your fresh produce is organic can be found here in a previous blog post. 

3.  "Enriched" - Sounds kind of nice doesn't it?  Probably because the definition of enrich is "to make fuller, more meaningful, or more rewarding."  You will commonly find the words "enriched flour", or something of the like, in many products on the grocery store shelves to indicate that the product has been enriched with vitamins and nutrients.  To put it simply, these grains are stripped of all of their beneficial nutrients during the refining process and have to be enriched with supplemental forms of these vitamins in order to meet certain food standards (and so they wont have to put 0% next to every vitamin and mineral on the label). This practice started in the 1940s when wartime families were increasingly deficient in nutrients given the recent move towards heavy grain processing for affordable food.  The FDA required certain nutrients to be present in each pound of flour. When you buy 100% whole grain foods, without added enriched flours, you are getting these nutrients in their most natural and easily-absorbed form.  Watch out for the term "white flour" which also means the flour has been stripped of its nutrients.  No flour is naturally bright white!    

4.  "Fortified" - This term also means nutrients have been added to the product.  However, unlike enriched products where the nutrients are stripped out and then re-added in smaller quantities, the nutrients added to fortified products were not originally contained in the product ingredients.  For example, milk is often fortified with vitamin D, which is not naturally occurring in this product.  This is generally a good term, depending on what nutrients are added. 

5.  "Partially Hydrogenated" - To put it simply, this means trans fat.  With all of the hype surrounding trans fats and their links to many cancers and other health ailments, a company would have to be nuts to willingly use this term on their label.  Even worse, some companies that use the ingredient go so far as to label their product "No trans fats!", which they get away with due to the lax restrictions that any product with 0.5g or less of trans fats per serving can be labeled at 0g.  Hydrogenation is the process of turning a liquid oil into a solid fat, usually to preserve the shelf-life of a product.  Full hydrogenation creates saturated fats, where partial - much cheaper and faster - creates the dreaded trans fats which have been linked to cancer, heart disease, alzheimer's disease, diabetes, infertility, and obesity.  Margarine is made with these oils, as are many shortenings and many, many processed food products due to their inexpensivity and ease of manufacturing.


6.  "Good Source of..." The FDA has regulated this term for use in products which contain 10% or more of the recommended daily value of an ingredient.  This, in my opinion, is quite a low % and may give consumers a false sense that they are fulfilling their requirements by consuming a serving of this product, when in fact they would require 10 servings to do so.  Be weary of this one.

7.  "Fat Free" - This is another tricky one.  This term is allowable on products which have 0.5g of fat per serving or less.  For someone who is on a low-fat diet, this can add up throughout the day or week.  Also, because the fat is not listed as an actual ingredient due to its "low" concentrations, the consumer is often unaware of the type of fat that is present (trans, saturated, etc.), which may be detrimental for those who have cholesterol issues or are trying to avoid ingesting certain fats for various reasons.

8.  "Sugar-Free" - Unfortunately, same as above.  A product with 0.5g or less of sugar per serving can be labeled sugar free.  This especially would be problematic for unstable diabetics or those on sugar or carbohydrate-restricted diets.    

9.  "Lean" - Defined as less than 10 grams of fat, 4.5 g of saturated fat, and 95 mg of cholesterol per (100 gram) serving of meat, poultry or seafood.  I personally have a very difficult time finding nutrition labels on meat, poultry, and seafoods at the grocery store.  For someone who is watching his/her intake of fat and cholesterol, "lean" may still be a little too high in these areas - especially if more than one serving is consumed.

10.  "High-fiber" - Can be used on foods which have 5 or more grams of fiber per serving.  This one I do not have a problem with, and would actually encourage looking for this phrase on the label of your breads, cereals, and snacks.