Quaker Oats has been sued for allegedly growing its products using pesticides. Plaintiffs are asking the company to take off the 100% Natural label on the front of its packaging.
According to Eco Watch, glyphosate is the most widely used agricultural herbicide in the world. An estimated 2.6 billion pounds of Monsanto's glyphosate herbicide have been sprayed by farmers on US agricultural lands from the year 1992 up to 2012, according to a US Geological Survey.
The definition of natural labels on products has been vague, causing doors to be opened to all kinds of claims about what natural is and what is not. Several products like Cheetos and Kraft Mac have also claimed to be selling products that are natural.
The FDA has not been specific on these labeling. According to the agency, almost all the food that are available in the market went through some kind of processing making it unnatural. This, however, leaves anyone to declare what is and isn't natural as per Gizmodo.
As reported by the Quartz, 'natural' should mean what Mother Nature intended it to be. GMOs are not natural and almost all products on the shelves of the grocery stores are not as Mother Nature intended. Natural products should be free of preservatives, dyes, and all artificial ingredients.
Experts believe that all the claims of food producers are equally made up due to the broadness of the definition of the FDA in products that are available in the market. The agency also didn't make any move in order to stop these companies from branding their products as 'natural.'
The FDA, however, has been collecting comments from people on what they think 'natural' really means. The agency promises to keep on collecting information until the end of the week. The agency hopes that the results will be considered as an official definition of a 'natural' product. If no official definition will be announced, it will be defined by courts and marketing executives.
