WASHINGTON 鈥� If you鈥檙e carefully selecting food for your聽Memorial Day cookout, don’t be misled by labels touting “natural” ingredients. You could be getting more than you bargained for.
The shredded cheddar cheese you might sprinkle on a hot dog聽prominently displays聽the words “natural cheese” under the Kraft label,聽but bright orange coloring聽is an聽added ingredient.聽The coloring comes from聽nature, but the final product didn’t happen naturally.
Consumer Reports’ details a number of examples of food labels using variations on the word 鈥渘atural鈥澛爐hat are meaningless.
Crystal Light Natural Lemonade Drink Mix , the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest says, but that the Crystal Light label on 鈥淣atural Lemon Iced Tea鈥� is misleading.
Kikkoman Soy Sauce that is labeled as 鈥渘aturally brewed鈥澛爄ncludes聽a synthetic preservative common in聽processed foods.
Other examples of items with ingredients not found in nature that use variations of the word 鈥渘atural鈥� on labels include聽Fiber One Chewy Bars and聽Molly McButter All Natural Butter Flavor Sprinkles.
People striving to eat truly natural foods聽might want to read ingredient lists carefully when labels use phrases such as 鈥淎ll Natural,鈥� 鈥淣aturally Flavored鈥� and 鈥淢ade with Natural Ingredients.鈥�
Responding to consumer complaints, ShopSmart notes聽some companies聽have made adjustments to either ingredient lists or labels.
For example, if you鈥檙e slathering ribs with sauce at this weekend鈥檚 cookout, you can rest assured that Stubb’s聽Smokey Mesquite Bar-B-Q Sauce聽is now truly “All Natural.”
