FDA is requesting public comments on (i) whether it
is appropriate to define the term "natural" and, if so
(ii) how the agency should define "natural," and (iii)
whether it should determine appropriate use of the term on food
labels. FDA considers a human food to be "natural" if
"nothing artificial or synthetic (including all
color additives regardless of source) has been included in, or has
been added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in
that food."
FDA states that the landscape of food ingredients and production is
changing, and thus a coordinated revision of the term
"natural" between FDA and USDA is needed. The agency
intends to work with USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service
("AMS") and Food Safety and Inspection Service
("FSIS"), which would revise the word "natural"
as used in meat, poultry, and egg products.
In recent years, there has been substantial litigation regarding
the meaning of the term "natural" and whether its use on
various labels is misleading. Litigated issues include (i) the
extent to which a "natural" food can be subject to
processing, (ii) whether a food derived from genetically modified
organisms can be deemed natural, (iii) whether a food (or some of
its ingredients) can be deemed "natural" if some
ingredients are produced through chemical processes, and (iv)
whether a food is "natural" if it is
"artificially" colored with natural products such as beet
juice, etc. Some courts have requested guidance from FDA.
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