All Natural Claim on Food and Beverages Packaging

A new research has been published that looked at whether visual cues on food and beverage product labels affect the way people see and prefer products*. The visual cues on the labels were claims such as 'all natural'.

The researchers divided consumers into two groups: an experienced with nutrition group and one inexperienced group. The consumers had to look at the ingredients labels and the special statements such as 'all natural' on the label and state which products had their preference.

The research found that the visual cues, such as the all natural claim, affect the buying preference mostly in inexperienced buyers. The recommendation of the research was that the FDA should regulate the claim.

When I read this, it did not surprise me at all. And I have to admit, that claims like 'all natural' fool me once in a while too, and I would consider myself an experienced consumer. But where I wanted to get to is that when a food or beverage says that it is all natural, there is no regulation in place to define what that means. And all you can do is trust the producer, that they know what they are saying and that they are honest.

The 'all natural' thing is actually pretty complicated. As mentioned above, there is no definition within the food industry or the government about what it means. And therefore everybody can define for themselves what it exactly entails.

To me, a natural ingredient is a molecule or product that can be found in nature. But even that is a difficult definition, because sometimes it is hard to measure how a molecule exactly is in nature, because while trying to measure it might actually change the form it is in. And then some ingredients can be produced through natural processes but also by chemical ways. Examples of this are propionic or lactic acid which can be produced through fermentation with bacteria (the natural way) or by mixing various chemicals together. And that does not have to be listed on the label either.

Another way to modify ingredients is by having enzymatic reactions. Enzymatic reactions occur often in nature, but not all enzymes are naturally in the presence of certain molecules and therefore the enzymatic modification of that ingredient might not occur in nature.

Sometimes it is easier to know what is not natural, then what is natural. But in general, I would not put too much trust on claims on labels that are not regulated.

* the abstract of the research can be found here