Global Regulations: Why is FDA reluctant to define “natural”?

Flavorman has customers ask them all the time about using natural on their labels. This article addresses how the FDA is handling natural claims on food and beverage products.

“It was somewhat shocking to observe the issuance of an FDA warning letter earlier this year that addressed, among other violations, a company’s alleged improper use of the term natural. In that warning letter, issued on March 11, 2011, to Shemshad Food Products, FDA declared that use of the term natural in association with a food product that contained a synthetic chemical preservative was false and misleading. The shock does not stem from FDA’s position on the matter; the shocking part is that FDA addressed the use of the word natural at all—a topic that the agency has notoriously avoided over the last decade.

The real question raised by this warning letter is whether it signifies a movement in FDA’s inclination to address the topic of “natural” claims, especially in light of the ever-increasing number of such claims—or whether the issuance of this warning letter is just an isolated case. If FDA’s history of action—or more accurately, inaction—in this area is any indication, the answer is likely the latter.

Natural is not defined in the central body of laws, the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, enforced by FDA. Furthermore, despite repeated requests from various organizations and entities, FDA has expressly declined to define natural in any regulation or formal policy statement. In 2002, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a public advocacy group that has been very aggressive in taking on companies making what it perceives to be improper “natural” claims, requested that FDA take action against Ben & Jerry’s—only to have FDA respond that “natural” was “not among the FDA’s current enforcement priorities….”

Click here to read the full article from Nutritional Outlook