I am on the “deceitful marketing” rampage since my last post on credit cards. I may as well keep going, and get it out of my system.

This one is on food labeling. We’ll start with some definitions. Then I’ll site a few particularly irritating examples.

100% Organic- Means just that. You can’t mess around with 100%. Also, all manufacturing must meet government standards, and be inspected by an independent accredited organization. Look for the Certified Organic” label.

Organic- Up to 5% of products labeled organic can be non-organic or synthetic.
Noteworthy exception: Seafood labeled organic can be anything, as there are currently no means of inspection to back up the claims.

Made with Organic Ingredients- 70% must be organic.

So far so good. But now we get into the latest creative marketing buzzwords.

Meaningless Labels

“Free Range” or “Free Roaming”- can’t you just imagine a huge chicken coop with frolicking happy chickens? Or cattle lazing out in a sunny open field, where the buffalo roam, and the deer and the antelope play?

Here’s what is actually guaranteed when you pay your extra two dollars for those eggs with the cool “free range” stamp: “outdoor access must be made available for an undetermined amount of time each day.”

So, if the door is open to the chicken house for 5 minutes, you pass the legal definition.

Look for a label that says “Certified Humane” on your animal based products. To gain this certification, companies are regularly inspected by an outside independent group.

“Natural” or “All Natural”- an unverified claim that only has any meaning at all if seen on meats and poultry. The USDA’s definition goes like this: “shall contain no artificial preservatives, flavorings, colorings, or synthetic ingredients.” Doesn’t it make you wonder what the meats not having this label contain? Or what is actually in all those other “natural” labeled products?

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) regularly sites examples of misleading food labels. Here are just a few:

Quaker 100% Natural Cereal- One half cup of those tasty oat clusters has more fat than a McDonald’s hamburger.

Betty Crocker Carrot Cake Mix- shows a cake with real carrot pieces on the box, but actually only contains carrot powder.

Quaker Oats Pasta Roni with Broccoli- doesn’t have much broccoli in it.

Gerber Graduates for Toddlers Fruit Snacks- the leading ingredients are corn syrup and sugar.

California “Raw” Almonds- are processed with propylene oxide and “fumigants” before shipping, yet are still labeled raw. Propylene oxide has been classified as a probable human carcinogen.

I could go on and on.

Bottom Line: User Beware of misleading food labels. An embarrassing example of American Culture.

Anyone out there have any stories about mislabeled products they’ve found?

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