It's Only Natural...and That Means Nothing!

The next time someone tells you something is "only natural," I suggest you say something like, "Do I look like the time of unthinking sheep that jumps on the 'me too' marketing bandwagon!? 'Natural' is a descriptor of parallel worth to 'fine,' 'new,' and 'fresh!' Heap your hype on the pyre, along with miracle cures, limited-time offers, and 'Now with Better Taste!'"

The above response is best suited to discussing "health food," as it is less versatile than you may expect. In the third installment of my Food Industry Information Battle Series (FIIBS), I want to look at what Natural means, why it's ubiquitous, and where we should go from here.

For the readership who enjoys moving pictures and sound, here's a clip which sums up the "Natural" marketing movement nicely:

A proper gander at the propaganda: This video is obviously a propaganda video. It's produced by onlyorganic.org. Who is that? It's a consortium of companies who produce organic products. The list includes Earthbound Farm, Rudi's Organic Bakery, Honest Tea, and many others. These are businesses who enjoy market share because they have gone through the proper channels to ensure their products are Certified Organic. It makes sense that they wouldn't want any old opportunistic company slapping a "Natural" label on its product and becoming a competitor. (Just like "real" doctors are so dismissive about the ones you find on Craigslist.) To their credit, many of these businesses are also run by the original owners and seem genuinely passionate about making food free of harmful additives, GMO, and pesticide. The above propaganda gets my seal of approval, sort of like smoke detector industry propaganda.

So, in the USA, "natural" has no enforceable, consistent definition:

The international Food and Agriculture Organization does not recognize the term "natural" as constituting anything specific in regard to food.

Nice try, SC. You're fooling no one.

The USDA and FDA have no enforceable guidelines for "natural" product labeling. In the USA, you can inject your chicken with lots of salt water, and this is not, by any meaningful definition, unnatural.

Since we know "natural" is a marketing ploy at best, it can't hold any weight over us as consumers, right? Of course not. American shoppers are smarter than that. It's not like pricing something at "$2.99" instead of "$3.00" is actually so effective that it is inescapable...  It's not like we "fall" for mail-in rebates, since we all mail them in, every time. We live in a postmodern, hyper-aware era of consumer agency, where we know every trick in the book. Now if I could just get hold of Kevin Trudeau to send that rebate he promised me...

Or maybe...there wouldn't need to be anti-"Natural" videos if "Natural" wasn't so effective.

We're not in a Kansas "all-natural" beef slaughterhouse anymore...

The resistance to over-processing and wanton additions to food has been going strong since the advent of the modern food industry, predating even the addition of synthetic pesticides to American agriculture in the 1940s. Synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides worried some folks in Europe, prompting the formation of such organizations as Demeter International of Germany in the 1920s. By the 1940s, there was a robust organization of farmers worldwide who were feeling Aggro about Big Agra's new practices.

20 years later, Silent Spring was published. The next decade saw the banning of DDT and the creation of Organic Certification in the US. Legitimate concerns were birthing an industry, as well as opening the door for marginally effective all-natural deodorant.

1979 gave us not only horror classic Alien, but also the first USDA-approved "natural" beef. One Mel Coleman of Coleman Natural Meat wanted to sell beef from cows raised without antibiotics, hormones, or a meat diet. The USDA said, "No problem, Mel." It is unknown whether Mel was provided with a certificate, or if the matter was resolved in a few minutes of chat over a rotary phone. Despite Coleman's good intentions, a precedent of meaninglessness was set.

A year later, the first Whole Foods opened with a staff of 19. It's hard to imagine WF as a team of anti-Big Agra guerrillas employing less people than the typical Whole Foods Deli. 

28 years later, Whole Foods is posting profits in the billions, with hundreds of stores nationwide, and a once niche industry is such a threat to mainstream grocery that they can't print the Natural labels fast enough.

A cliche about Newtonian physics goes here...

This Cheetah may soon be extinct.

That said, there is growing resistance to Naturalizing things willy-nilly. According to this article from the Wall Street Journal, many huge companies (such as PepsiCo) are jettisoning the Natural label. The resulting lawsuits and bad PR are simply too brand-damaging. Enough class action, action packed lawsuits alleging false advertising, and even the Matrix gets spooked.

"There's a boatload of litigation and that is going to continue until companies stop conning people,'' Stephen Gardner told the WSJ. Gardner is the litigation director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The same article tells us that the percentage of products launched using the "natural" label has fallen by 8% or 11% in the last 5 years for food and drink, respectively.

Looks like Natural Selection to me.

Natural Progression

So, as an average consumer, your preference for Certified Organic over Somewhat Natural is justified. Mother Natural is going to sort this whole thing out, Naturally. The Natural Bandwagon is a sinking ship, and the rats are accordingly jumping off. (Don't worry, they can still get a job as experiment "volunteers." Natch.)