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Natural food and all-natural food are terms in food labeling and marketing with several definitions, generally denoting foods that are not Food processing. In some countries like the United Kingdom, the term "natural" is defined and regulated; in others, such as the United States, the term natural is not enforced for food labels, although there is USDA regulation of Organic movement labeling.
The term is assumed to describe foods having ingredients that are intrinsic to an unprocessed food.
The term is variously misused on labels and in advertisements. The international Food and Agriculture Organization's Codex Alimentarius does not recognize the term 'natural' but does have a standard for .
British agronomist Guy T. Wrench in 1936 and organic farmer J. I. Rodale in 1948 both authored books associating longevity with unprocessed natural foods from the Hunza diet.
Rodale claimed that the Hunza people lived to be hundreds of years old and were never ill because of their diet of natural foods. However, the claims had no basis in fact and were refuted by a team of Japanese researchers from Kyoto University in 1960 who had examined Hunza inhabitants. The medical team found rampant signs of poor health amongst the Hunza, including goitre, malnutrition, rheumatism, tuberculosis and high levels of infant mortality. Both Rodale and Wrench are cited as influencing the organic food movement in the United States.Natural foods were promoted by cookbook writers in the United States during the 1970s with cookbooks emphasizing "natural," "health" and "whole" foods in opposition to processed foods which were considered bad for health.Elias, Megan J. (2017). Food on the Page Cookbooks and American Culture. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 173–176. In 1971, Eleanor Levitt authored The Wonderful World of Natural Food Cookery which dismissed processed foods such as readymade dinners, cookie mixes, and Lunch meat as being full of preservatives and other "chemical poisons."
Jean Hewitt authored the New York Times Natural Foods Cookbook, an influential cookbook on the use of natural foods. Hewitt suggested that before large-scale mechanized farming and modern food production methods, people ate "fresh, natural and unrefined foods for granted" and but have since abandoned this way of eating for highly processed foods which are devoid of flavor and nutrition. Hewitt's cookbook offered "the textures, tastes and nutritional benefits of the natural, fresh foods that grandmother knew" and dedicated the recipes to "the thousands of people across the country who believe in, and practice, the natural way of eating for good health".
There are different standards for various types of food, such as dairy products. It also gives standards for some food processing techniques, such as fermentation or pasteurization. The standard explicitly rules out "foods derived from novel processes, GM or cloning."
Furthermore, the FDA has not developed any rules or regulations on the defining features of what qualifies a product as "natural". The FDA does reference a definition of "natural" in their informal policy (Ref. 53) that defines "natural" as "nothing artificial or synthetic (including colors regardless of source) is included in, or has been added to, the product that would not normally be expected to be there."Food Labeling: Nutrient Content Claims, General Principles, Petitions, Definition of Terms, 56 Fed. Reg. 60,421, 60,466 (Nov. 27, 1991) (codified at 21 C.F.R. pts. 5, 101, and 105), available athttp://foodrisk.org/default/assets/File/NLEA-Proposed-60421-60478.pdf
The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prohibits labeling that is false or misleading. The USDA has a standard for organic food called the National Organic Program. As of August 2005, the USDA had a section governing "natural claims" in its Food Standards and Labeling Policy Book.[3] USDA Food Standards and Labeling Policy Book, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, August 2005
The poultry industry has been criticized by the Center for Science in the Public Interest for labeling chicken meat "all-natural" after it has been injected with saline solution up to 25% of its weight. There is no legal recourse to prevent this labeling. Salt-Water-Soaked Chicken Not at all Natural, Says CSPI CSPI, February 24, 2010,
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