An avalanche of lawsuits has left food companies scurrying to remove the word ‘natural’ from their packaging.
An avalanche of lawsuits has left food companies scurrying to remove the word ‘natural’ from their packaging.
Some are doing so because they’ve been ordered to. Others are removing the once-enticing word because it’s starting to get a bad rap.
Part of the problem is that the FDA doesn’t have any solid guidelines on what qualifies a food as being all natural.
The agency says natural is difficult to define, but their policy is a natural product doesn’t contain artificial or synthetic ingredients or anything that would not be expected.
Consumers have proven to be a bit pickier.
In one of the more publicized settlements, PepsiCo agreed to shell out 9 million dollars following a class action suit that claimed both synthetic and GMO goods were used in the making of Naked Juice.
Other brands that have been accused of using the word ‘natural’ a bit too loosely are Ben and Jerry’s, Kashi, and Skinnygirl.
Not all suits result in settlements, and in some cases the complaints have been delayed or thrown out by judges.
While the issue runs its course, some companies are opting for equally vague but less loaded words like wholesome and simple.
