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Ashana Patel
Mr. Newman
English 101: Rhetoric
November 17 2014
Is Natural and Organic defined correctly or is Traditional a healthier choice?
Consumers tend to believe they have made a better choice in devouring foods when the
foods are labeled as Natural or Organic. However, they are wrong, the definition of natural
and organic are two very different things. Natural foods are supposed to be foods without
artificial ingredients and organic foods are assumed to be foods without toxic pesticides or added
antibodies. People think that both organic and natural labeled foods seem to be a better choice
than the foods that arent labeled as natural or organic, but consumers are misguided because
even labels marked as natural and organic foods may contain additive antibodies as well as
artificial ingredients. Although canned foods that are labeled Organic or Natural meet the F.D.A
requirements, they are not enforced as Organic and Natural, Therefore consumers are be better
off buying traditional products instead of foods that are labeled.
When it comes to the budget for grocery shopping, most of us will readily agree that
Traditional foods are much more expensive than the Natural or Organic labeled canned foods.
Where this agreement usually ends, it raises the question of why buy expensive foods when you
can buy the same foods at a lower cost. Whereas some are convinced that expensive foods are
healthy foods, others maintain that healthy foods are labeled as Natural or Organic and are sold
for a lower cost. In Ban Natural as a Marketing Label on Foods, an article by Urvashi
Rangan, the director of consumer safety and sustainability for Consumer Reports, two-thirds of
consumers unwittingly think that natural means something namely that the product has no

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artificial ingredients, G.M.O.'s, toxic pesticides or added antibiotics. G.M.Os, or genetically
modified organisms, are plants or animals created through the gene splicing techniques of
biotechnology. Therefore, not only does she believe that the labels marked as natural are misused
but she also believes that the definition that the consumers unwittingly think is best fit to
describe organic food labels and not natural. Urvashi Rangan also states that Instead of defining
natural, we urge the F.D.A. to prevent companies from misleading usage of the claim.
Now then, the question is if natural foods are not the same as organic foods than what exactly
fits the definition of the label natural? There is no formal definition for the use of natural on
food labels that has been issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA). However, Natural claims have become common on new
foods and beverages. FDA follows a 1993 policy that states food labels provided is used in a
manner that is truthful and not misleading and the product does not contain added color, artificial
flavors or synthetic substances. Use of the term natural is not permitted in a product's ingredient
list, with the exception of the phrase "natural flavorings." However, USDA allows the use of the
term "natural" to be used in meat and poultry labeling on products that contain no artificial
ingredients or added color. The product also must be only minimally processed. In addition,
Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist and member of the Institute for Health Policy Studies
at the University of California, San Francisco, as well as the president of the Institute for
Responsible Nutrition. Marsha Cohen, and a law professor at the University of California
Hastings, also the executive director of Lawyers for America, states in the article F.D.A. Must
Define, and Enforce, the Term Natural that perhaps the best way to define natural would
be to define the amount of processing allowed post-harvesting. In other words, a food grown

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with pesticides could not be labeled organic but it could be deemed "natural." Organic food
processed with preservatives could not be labeled "natural."
The push to define natural food has involved lawsuits about many aspects of what's in our
food, including high-fructose corn syrup, additives, chemicals and G.M.O.'s. Therefore, in
Calling G.M.O.s Unnatural Suggests They Are Unhealthy, an article by Doug Van Hoewyk,
an associate professor at Coastal Carolina University, argues that if the natural label on foods
cannot apply to G.M.O.'s, it would have to exclude nearly all foods, considering how they have
changed from the undomesticated plants from which they derive. Most of those truly wild and
natural plants arent even available at farmer's markets, let alone grocery stores. I highly agree
with him on this statement because not only is the term natural misused but it is also
substituted for the G.M.Os.
As mentioned in The Word Natural, Like Our Food, Has Become Polluted, an article
by Vani Hari, an author of the forthcoming book The Food Babe Way, Change is possible but
can't come quickly enough without government oversight. I myself have come to know that some
companies are using ingredients approved for use in the U.S. that are banned or require a
warning label in other countries. Vani has previously campaigned to have such labels removed.
The results of her campaign were very surprising, Kraft and Subway both removed ingredients
she had campaigned against, showing that consumer action does work. But it is gradual.
Therefore, her
In my perspective, consumers are better off buying Traditional foods. Though I concede
that Traditional foods are much more costly. I still maintain that Traditional foods are healthier
than can foods that are labeled as Natural or Organic. For example Traditional vegetables dont
contain artificial flavors or chemicals to keep them fresh but canned vegetables do contain a

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variety of acids and chemicals in order to keep the veggies from rotting or spoiling. Although
some might object that Traditional foods rot in a shorter period of time. I reply that Traditional
foods dont contain acids to increase the time period for when it rots. The issue is important
because recent statistics show that canned food is one of the leading causes to obesity and in
order to contain that, people have to understand the importance of traditional foods.

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Works Cited
Hari, Vani. The Word Natural, Like Our Food, Has Become Polluted. New York Times:
Room for Debate. New York Times Company, 10 November 2014. 18 November 2014.
Hoewyk, Doug Van. Calling G.M.O.'s 'Unnatural' Suggests They are unhealthy. New York
Times: Room for Debate. New York Times Company, 10 November 2014. 18 November
2014.
Lustig, Robert. F.D.A. Must Define, and Enforce, the Term Natural.New York Times: Room
for Debate. New York Times Company, 11 November 2014. 18 November 2014.
Rangan, Urvashi.Ban 'Natural' as a marketing Label on foods.New York Times: Room for
Debate. New York Times Company, 11 November 2014. 18 November 2014.