9 Things the Word “Natural” Doesn’t Guarantee Louisianans
A Baton Rouge shopper reaching for anything stamped “natural” is leaning on a word with surprisingly few rules behind it.
These are the things the word “natural” doesn’t guarantee Louisianans, or anyone reaching for that same word on a label across the United States.
1. Pesticide-Free Produce
Lettuce, strawberries, or a bag of green beans can all carry the word “natural” no matter how many rounds of pesticide spray touched them before harvest.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a page on the term that admits this in plain language.
The agency’s informal policy leaves out food production methods, including the use of pesticides.
The sticker won’t say.
A peach grown with conventional pesticide sprays can carry the same “natural” sticker as one grown without any because the word never asked the question in the first place.
2. Non-GMO Ingredients
Does the word “natural” rule out a genetically engineered ingredient?
FDA’s informal policy has never addressed whether a genetically modified organism (GMO) crop can still wear the label.
Different agency, different rules.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) runs a separate disclosure standard that makes large food companies flag bioengineered ingredients with a symbol or text.
That disclosure and the word “natural” run on two unrelated tracks.
A cereal box can carry both, neither, or one without the other, and nothing about that combination breaks any rule.
3. Preservative-Free Food
A jar of pickles or a package of deli meat can carry the word “natural” while still holding a preservative.
It can’t be artificial or synthetic.
That’s the only bar.
FDA has never engaged in formal rulemaking to define “natural” at all, leaving only an old policy statement on the books.
FDA asked the public for comments on a formal definition back in 2015 and closed that comment period in 2016 without ever finalizing one.
USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) applies the same logic to meat and poultry, blocking only artificial ingredients and added color, with no mention of preservatives.
The ingredient list is where you find that out, not the word stamped on the front.
Psst! How much do you know about the other claims stamped on grocery packaging? Tap each card below and see how many you get right.
4. Hormone- and Antibiotic-Free Meat
Meat and poultry labeled “natural” don’t automatically mean the animals never got a hormone or an antibiotic.
FSIS treats “natural” as a narrow, separate claim: No artificial ingredients or added color, and minimal processing that doesn’t fundamentally change the product.
That’s the whole test.
FSIS’s labeling page draws a hard line between that test and any claim about how the animal was raised.
A beef producer who wants to add “no hormones added” on top of “natural” has to submit producer proof that no hormones were ever administered.
Producers have to prove it.
“Natural” all by itself never asks that question, so a package can carry the word without a shred of that documentation behind it.
5. Humane Animal Treatment
FSIS draws a hard line between the word “natural” and any claim about how humanely an animal was raised.
Its labeling guidance says the claim has nothing to do with feed type or farming methods.
Regulators judge terms like “humanely raised,” “pasture-raised,” and “free-range” on a completely different scale.
That’s a separate question.
FSIS updated its guideline on those animal-raising claims in 2024, pushing producers toward third-party certification and a signed, written description of how the animals live.
None of that paperwork attaches to the word “natural.”
6. Minimal Processing
Meat and poultry are the only foods that get a heavy-processing promise from the word “natural.”
Nothing else gets that promise.
Boxed, bagged, and bottled foods fall under FDA instead of USDA.
FDA’s informal policy leaves out food processing and manufacturing methods, including thermal treatment, pasteurization, and irradiation.
A snack food can go through extrusion, high-heat processing, and a long list of manufacturing steps and still carry the word.
You’d never guess it from the word stamped on the front.
The USDA rule and the FDA policy sit right next to each other on the same grocery aisle, and they don’t agree on what “natural” requires.
7. Same as Organic
“Natural” doesn’t guarantee anything close to what “organic” does, even though shoppers routinely treat the two words as cousins.
Certification changes everything.
To use the USDA Organic seal, a product has to pass through organic certification, a full review of soil, pest management, and animal practices by an accredited outside agent.
Synthetic fertilizers, irradiation, and genetic engineering are all barred outright under that program.
“Natural” has no certifying body, no outside inspector, and no barred-ingredients list to match it.
8. No Government Review
Did a federal agency review a “natural” claim before it reached the shelf?
No one did.
FDA has no pre-market approval process for the word, since it never wrote a rule to check the claim against.
Meat and poultry work differently, since FSIS treats “natural” as a special statement that needs sign-off before the label prints.
The One “Natural” Claim With a Paper Trail
A “natural” claim on meat or poultry is the one version of the word that comes with an actual paper trail before it ever prints.
FSIS treats it as a special statement, which means a producer has to submit the label and supporting records for approval first.
That packet includes a written, signed description of how the claim holds up, plus documentation showing the claim is accurate.
A box of crackers or a jug of juice carrying the same word skips every one of those steps.
FDA has no matching review for anything outside meat and poultry.
9. Better Nutrition
“Natural” doesn’t guarantee a food is lower in sugar, sodium, or fat than the version sitting next to it without the label.
Sugar isn’t part of it.
Neither FDA’s informal description nor USDA’s meat and poultry rule mentions calories, added sugar, or sodium content anywhere in the requirements.
A “natural” soda can carry the same sugar as one with no such label.
A “natural” deli meat can run just as high in sodium as a competitor that never uses the word.
The Nutrition Facts panel lists the actual sugar, sodium, and fat numbers that the word “natural” never has to disclose.
Flip the package over before checking out, and you’ll see the number the front of the box left out.
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