"Natural" billion dollar industry may face identity crisis

The term "natural" has come under fire, meaning the billion dollar industry may soon be grappling with an identity crisis, as the FDA asks for pubic comment on the matter of "naturalness", brought on by an increasing number of lawsuits filed against manufacturers for misusing the term. The lack of definition and guidelines regarding the labelling of "natural" food is driving up these lawsuits, leading to calls for the FDA to be more strict and comprehensive in their definition. The FDA says that consumers have until 10 May 2016 to comment on the term "natural" in the labelling of food; the FDA's actions could have a substantial impact on food and supplement label litigation, as well as the industry as a whole.

For years, many have asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to define the term “natural” for use in food labeling. Private citizens asked. Corporations asked. Even federal courts asked. But until recently, aside from an attempt at rulemaking in the early 1990s (an attempt that the FDA formally abandoned in 1993), the FDA had taken no steps to formally define the term. Rather, the FDA relied upon its policy regarding the use of “natural” as meaning that nothing artificial or synthetic (including all color additives, regardless of source) has been included in, or has been added to, a food.

Finally, however, the FDA has taken some long-awaited action; it opened a docket on November 12, 2015 to get input from the public, asking: