Navigating how consumers perceive 'natural'

CHICAGO — A consumer sees an apple and may consider it a “natural” snack. That apple gets crushed, maybe mixed with a little sugar and cinnamon. The consumer may think “natural” applesauce. Apples get sliced and mixed with brown sugar and corn starch then distributed across a flour and butter crust to make a “natural” apple pie.

All of these thought processes make logical sense; however, because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration currently does not define the term natural, its use is being scrutinized, and at times being challenged by consumer groups who claim misuse and deceit. In early May, for example, Plymouth, Wis.-based Sargento Foods Inc. was hit with a class-action lawsuit in San Francisco federal court accusing the company of marketing its cheeses as natural when, according to the plaintiff, they come from cows fed genetically modified corn or soy and growth-enhancing hormones. The lawsuit said thousands of consumers paid a premium price for what they believed were natural cheeses without receiving the benefits of a natural product. (See story on Page 48.)

Those benefits — real or perceived — are valued by many consumers. Research from Beneo Inc., Parsippany, N.J., showed that 65% of consumers in the Americas consider natural products as better and 47% actively look for natural products when making food purchase decisions.

“While the trend toward natural seems to have begun with a relatively small group of health-conscious consumers, the trend has now become widespread and includes consumers of all ages,” said Jon Peters, president of Beneo. 

Carolyn Clark, director of global marketing, PureCircle, Oak Brook, Ill., said, “As health experts and governments have become increasingly concerned about increases in obesity and diabetes, consumers are also on their own health and wellness journey. More than ever, consumers want to understand the type of ingredients in their food and the role that they play in their personal health and wellness.”

The ambiguity in the term natural, however, has food and beverage manufacturers questioning their investment in “cleaning up food labels” to appeal to today’s label-reading consumers. Can they afford the time and energy involved in reformulating, developing new labels and regulatory compliance?

“With consumer trends moving in the direction of a desire to purchase more natural, cleaner label, shorter ingredient statement products, the greater question is if you can afford not to,” said Christiana Greene, technical director, Sensient Natural Ingredients, Turlock, Calif. “Consumer spending is increasing in these areas, and without creating products that meet the demands, the cost companies can’t afford is lost sales revenue.”

David Hart, business unit director, Salt of the Earth, Atlit, Israel, believes that the guidelines for natural are clear enough.

“There can’t be any synthetic chemicals,” he said. “Ingredients need to be minimally processed, using a handful of accepted methods. Food companies should thoroughly vet all of their ingredients before making any claims around natural.”

Consider the process

It is the controversial and confusing use of the word natural on finished food products that has many marketers opting for claims of using natural ingredients or the avoidance of artificial ingredients. This, too, can be challenging to navigate.

“Going natural can be subjective, whereas going non-G.M.O. or organic has a set definition a formulator must meet,” Ms. Greene said. “The elimination of the word artificial from the ingredient statement doesn’t mean you are meeting what the consumer expects for a natural product.”

Meeting consumers’ expectations of what they perceive as natural ingredients may help avoid a lawsuit. Farm-to-fork traceability and vertical integration may provide the paper trail necessary to justify a natural positioning.

“We work closely with our agriculture partners to ensure the highest quality for our products, from seed development to planting, harvesting and production,” said Jean Shieh, marketing manager, Sensient Natural Ingredients, Turlock, Calif. “We support our food industry customers with innovations like smoked onions, which are cold-smoked, California-grown onions that deliver a mellow smokiness and savory notes with no added chemicals or flavoring agents. We have also been providing ‘no ethoxyquin added’ paprika and chili powder to address the need for eliminating ethoxyquin from food products.”

Nancy Gaul, global marketing director-health and wellness, Tate & Lyle, Hoffman Estates, Ill., said, “With no legal definition for natural in the U.S., it is open to interpretation by manufacturers and consumers. We provide our customers with the facts on how our ingredients are made and sourced so that they can make informed decisions with regards to marketing claims aligned with the benefits.”

Processing and processing aids must be considered. Full transparency is paramount. 

“The simplest way to qualify an ingredient as natural is to ensure that the key component is natural — solely derived from plant or animal origin — with acceptable processing (heat, physical, purification, extraction, hydrolysis, fermentation),” said Denis Neville, chief executive officer, CoreFX Ingredients, Chicago. “These processes should not chemically alter the product.” 

Keeping an ingredient as similar to its origins helps a natural positioning, too. For example, CoreFX markets grass-fed dry butter made from Irish grass-fed butter with full traceability to the pasture. The emulsifier is simply grass-fed nonfat dry milk, versus a non-dairy or chemical-sounding emulsifier. 

“It is important for manufacturers to understand not just the source of the ingredient, but also to understand what processes the ingredient undergoes,” said Marilyn Stieve, marketing manager, Biospringer North America, Milwaukee.

Biospringer’s range of ingredients are all derived from yeast, a microorganism that is found in nature. She explained that there is confusion sometimes around yeast extracts because of the autolysis process. The company educates its customers on this natural enzymatic process.

“We employ no genetic modification technologies in the sourcing of our baker’s yeast strains,” Ms. Stieve said. “Baker’s yeast is grown using a natural process of fermentation that utilizes agricultural resources such as molasses and corn to feed the yeast. Natural enzymes allow for the breakage of the yeast cell wall (autolysis), which then allows the flavor components of protein and amino acids from the yeast cell to be extracted.”

With starch ingredients, many marketers agree that chemical modification disqualifies them from a natural designation. Physical modification is typically deemed acceptable.

For example, Beneo’s native rice starches meet the natural expectations for consumers while also providing manufacturers with the opportunity to utilize high-performance rice starches in applications requiring severe processing conditions. Rice starch is also known for its hypoallergenic properties and easy digestibility.

“Food brand owners and processors often have natural committees, which are comprised of research and development, regulatory, marketing and sales, and legal teams in order to determine if a particular ingredient meets their standards for natural and can be listed in a product labeled as such,” said Dave Charest, vice-president, meat industry, Corbion, Lenexa, Kas.

By default, it may still not be natural 

Ingredients that qualify legally as natural and artificial are few and far between. In fact, the category of flavors is the only one that specifically uses such language. Based on the raw materials used in manufacturing, flavors are identified as artificial or natural and must be labeled as such on ingredient statements.

The F.D.A. does not qualify any preservative as natural, but it does define chemical preservatives. These are any chemicals that when added to food tend to prevent or retard deterioration. Ingredients excluded from this list include common salt, sugars, vinegars, spices or oils extracted from spices, as well as substances added to food by direct exposure, for example, wood smoke.

Plant-based extracts, such as rosemary, green tea, acerola and celery, as well as fermented ingredients such as vinegar, lactic acid, cultured sugar or dextrose, are considered natural options for preservation (and curing in meat), Mr. Charest said. 

With sweeteners, the language is a bit different. The F.D.A. does not impose the descriptor of artificial to any sweetener, rather, there are six high-intensity sweeteners —acesulfame potassium, advantame, aspartame, neotame, saccharin and sucralose — that are approved as food additives in the United States. Even though they are not legally classified as artificial sweeteners, this descriptor has become common language.

Label claims such as “free from artificial sweeteners” will appear on products sweetened with either of two rather new high-intensity sweeteners: monkfruit and stevia. The F.D.A. in the past has issued letters saying the agency has no questions regarding petitions for the generally recognized as safe status for both stevia and monk fruit.

When looking at sweeteners with zero calories, recent data provided by Mintel, Chicago, indicates use of “natural origin” sweeteners is sharply on the rise, Ms. Clark said.

“In 2010, only 9% of new products launching with high-intensity sweeteners used stevia,” she said. “As of August 2017, stevia was used in 27% of new products launched with these types of sweeteners and outpaced the use of aspartame for the first time.”

With colors, allowed claims are even more confusing. Basically, any ingredient with the sole purpose of adding color to a food or beverage is a color additive, with all color additives requiring approval by the F.D.A. as a food additive. The F.D.A. classifies color additives as either “certified” or “exempt from certification.” The former is also commonly referred to as artificial or synthetic, and the latter, by default, often is characterized as natural. But again, these are commonly accepted terms, not legal descriptors.

Manufacturers need to be aware that the F.D.A. does not consider any color added to a food as being natural, unless the color is natural to the product itself. For example, a strawberry cream cheese spread colored with strawberry extract could be labeled “all-natural,” providing that none of the other ingredients in the spread were characterized as artificial. Such a description would not be possible if beet juice, an F.D.A.-recognized color additive, were used for a colorful boost. Label claims of “free from synthetic colors” or “colored with vegetable juice” are possible.

Navigating natural in the meat and poultry sector is a little different than the rest of food and beverage, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture offers guidance, albeit, somewhat confusing and at times even misleading. The agency specifies that meat and poultry products may be labeled natural if they are only minimally processed and don’t have any artificial flavorings, colorings, preservatives or other additives.

“One thing we have seen — through the Power of Meat study and internal research — is that consumers are not just looking at the ingredients listed in their product,” said Courtney Schwartz, senior marketing communications manager, Kemin Food Technologies, Des Moines, Iowa. “They are interested and concerned with all aspects of the production of these products. From animal welfare to raw material/ingredient sourcing to sustainability. This relates back to the need for total transparency from food manufacturers.”

Kemin addresses this with its vertical integration approach to plant extracts. The approach allows Kemin to have total supply chain control, which reduces raw material contamination risk and also puts emphasis on the sustainability of product.

Jon Getzinger, c.e.o., Puris, Minneapolis, said, “There is risk involved in using the word natural. Look for a more defensible and defined approach.”

Sargento Foods in the eye of the storm

There has been an upsurge of litigation in the past few years challenging use of the term natural on food products, including the recent class-action suit brought against Sargento Foods Inc., Plymouth, Wis., in May 2017. The plaintiff argues that Sargento’s natural cheeses are not natural because they are made using milk from cows given G.M.O. feed and/or administered artificial growth hormones and/or raised in particular “non-natural” ways.

The defense argues the claims have no legal merit and are completely speculative. 

“This is not a typical natural labeling case,” said Angel Garganta, partner at law firm Venable L.L.P., San Francisco, Sargento’s defense attorney. “Sargento labels its cheese as natural cheese because that is an industry-standard term used to distinguish between the two main types of cheese sold in the dairy industry. This includes natural cheese, such as cheddar, and processed cheese, such as American cheese.”

Mr. Garganta said the plaintiff focuses on the word natural on Sargento’s labeling but ignores both the context in which the word appears as part of the term “natural cheese” and that “natural cheese” is a well-defined term in the dairy industry and recognized by federal agencies. He explained that unlike in other litigation where the term natural is used as an adjective describing the quality of the product, when it comes to cheese, natural is a proper noun defining what the cheese is and distinguishing it from what it is not, i.e., processed cheese. 

Sargento also maintains that the plaintiff’s arguments are speculative. This is why a motion has been filed to dismiss the case. At the very least, Sargento believes a stay on the suit is required until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration completes its regulatory review of the term.

“If not dismissed, this case should be stayed under the primary jurisdiction doctrine because the F.D.A. is actively reviewing the exact issues raised in the complaint,” Mr. Garganta said. “Multiple natural lawsuits have been stayed by the courts on these grounds. F.D.A. may eventually define the term natural and separately, or as a subset, define the term natural cheese.”