66% of consumers incorrectly believe ‘natural’ on food labels actually means something

Lemonade Truck - Photo by altiemae

Two-thirds of Americans think the world “natural” on the label of a packaged or processed food means it contains no artificial ingredients, pesticides or genetically engineered organisms, a survey released this week by the magazine Consumer Reports found.

When consumers see the word on meat or poultry, 70% think it means no growth hormones were used in the animals feed and 60% think the animals got no antibiotics or other drugs in their feed.

The problem is, consumers are wrong.

Under federal labeling rules, the word natural means absolutely nothing.

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