Are Your Food Labels Lying to You?

If the promise of nature, pasture and vine-ripening influence your buying decisions, you might want to think again when reading food labels.

April 03, 2013 Clare Leschin-Hoar

Reading Food Labels — Reading Food Labels Can Be Confusing

We’re officially declaring 2013 The Year of the Label. While most eyes will be on states that have taken up the fight to label genetically modified ingredients after the defeat of California’s closely watched Prop 37 in November, we think now’s the perfect time to take a closer look at labels that already exist in the marketplace.

Grocery shelves are filled with noise, and knowing which label you can trust, and which one is actually deceptive can be tricky. That’s why we went to labeling expert, Dr. Urvashi Rangan of Consumers Union, and their labeling companion website: EcoLabels.

“ ‘Natural’ is probably the most egregious term on the market,” Rangan tells us. “And our polling shows that consumers still think it has more meaning than organic.”

And when it comes to meat, Andrew Gunther, Animal Welfare Approved program director, says eggs and poultry meat are frequently the most misleading.

“For the consumer, it’s a difficult time,” he tells us. “One hint? People who are proud of what they do use a photograph, not a drawing. If that box of eggs has a bucolic pastoral cartoon on the box, question that. If it’s not accompanied by a credible certified claim, then you should probably think very hard about buying it.”

Rangan says bad labels are usually not a mistake. “They exploit the use of labeling to sell a product, and that doesn’t serve the consumer or the marketplace. We think labels should be meaningful. They should be verified. They should be consistent in meaning. They should be transparent, and they should be independent to the degree they can be,” she says.

We took a closer look at some frequently seen label to help decipher which have meaning, and which ones are, in fact, meaningless.

Photo: David Stewart/Getty Images

Reading Food Labels — Humane

Look closely when a product makes claims about humanely raised animals. Unless the item includes a third party, independent verification, there’s nothing to ensure you’re getting what you paid for. The very best logo to look for on the market belongs to Animal Welfare Approved.

Photo: Certified Humane

Reading Food Labels — Grass-fed

Grass-fed can be tricky. There is a USDA definition, which requires that 100 percent of a grass-fed animal’s diet consists of freshly grazed pasture during the growing season and stored grass in winter or drought. But it doesn’t tell the consumer if that cow, sheep, goat or bison was actually on a pasture or feedlot, and doesn’t address antibiotic use. However, there is a way you can be certain you’re getting your money’s worth: Rangan says look for grass-fed products that carry the American Grassfed Association logo. “It’s bona fide,” she says.

Photo: teamstickergiant/Creative Commons via Flickr

Reading Food Labels — No Hormones Added

If you pick up a package of chicken or pork chops that carry a “No Hormones Added” sticker on it, don’t spend any extra coin for it. The USDA doesn’t allow hormones to be used in hog or poultry production. That’s why you’ll see the phrase “Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones” after the bogus claim. When “No Hormones Administered” appears on a package of beef, however, the wording has some teeth, since producers have to document the cattle were raised without hormones. But if you spot “Hormone-free,” beware. The USDA says that term is “unapprovable.”

Photo: Foster Farms

Reading Food Labels — Fair Trade

According to Animal Welfare Approved’s Food Labeling for Dummies guide, a fair-trade label is third-party verified, legally defined and one you can trust. It means products that carry this label pay farmers and workers sustainable prices for their ingredients. Products where you’ll likely see this label include coffee, tea and chocolate items.

Photo: YouTube/h5>

Reading Food Labels — Pastured/Pasture-Raised

Sadly, there is no legal or regulated definition for pasture-raised animals, even though the words conjure up green grassy fields and butterflies. Unless you know your grower, it’s hard to know for sure the claim is legit. Be careful out there.

Photo: Mary's Chickens

Reading Food Labels — Cage Free

Usually applied to eggs, “cage free” means the hens are raised without the use of small battery cages. But don’t automatically assume these girls are roaming around on green pasture pecking at bugs and seeds. Most cage-free eggs come from hens that spend their lives indoors. If you think a supermarket “free range” egg might be better, don’t get your hopes up. When applied to eggs, the term “free range” is not regulated.

Photo: Shockingly Tasty/Creative Commons via Flickr

Reading Food Labels — No Antibiotics Administered

While “No Antibiotics Administered” and “Raised Without Antibiotics” may be used on meat and poultry labels, and does, in fact, mean that the animal was not given antibiotics during its lifetime, buyer beware if you spot the term “Antibiotic Free.” The USDA says that term is “unapprovable” and can’t be used on meat products. Even more confusing? Farmland Foods, a Smithfield Foods company, began using the phrase, “no antibiotic growth promotants,” when marketing its pork products. That’s not a USDA-approved claim, says Rangan. So what happened? “The USDA inadvertently approved the claim in January 2010, and Smithfield used it for three years.” But they won’t be able to for long. The company has until June 2013 to remove the label off packaging.

Photo: Wesley Fryer

Reading Food Labels — Free Range

If you see this label on any meat other than poultry, it carries no legal or regulated definition. And if you’re spending a little extra money on that supermarket free-range chicken, just know that while the USDA does regulate the term on poultry meat, it only requires that those animals have five minutes of open-air access each day for the term “free range” to apply. Five minutes.

Photo: LoopZilla/Creative Commons via Flickr

Reading Food Labels — Vine Ripend/ Tree Ripened

For those of you just creeping out of winter and dreaming of vine-ripened tomatoes, or tree-ripened peaches, put on a sad-face. Those claims, too, have no legal or regulated definition. That means the produce could be picked prematurely and ripened with ethylene gas. Better bet? Hit that local blueberry farm or apple orchard when it hits peak season.

Photo: Sidewise/Creative Commons via Flickr

Reading Food Labels — Natural

You might think this term would mean nothing synthetic or artificial was included in the product, but unless that term appears on a package of meat or poultry, it’s absolutely meaningless. And at least for now, it can still be slapped on products that contain genetically modified ingredients like corn, soybean or sugar beets, even though those genetically engineered crops couldn’t occur in nature.

Photo: Sidewise/Creative Commons via Flickr

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