Food For Thought 3.25.09

"Because it sells, food companies are slapping it on anything. And consumers believe natural equals nutritious. Actually, it's a bit like Alice in Wonderland. It means what I want it to mean." (Julie Miller Jones, professor of food safety and nutrition at College of St. Catherine in Minnesota on the 'natural' food label, which has defied federal definition. The USDA uses "minimally processed" as their guidline, although some on the extreme call raisins processed--and thus unnatural--food. The FDA follows along the 'nothing artificial' route, which possibly allows high fructose corn syrup into the natural category...depending on one's point of view. Meanwhile, 'natural' foods outsell organic by a four to one margin. As quoted in Food Business News.)