Beware what you read these days. Even at the store. Despite your best intentions, not everything is as it seems- even if they claim to be good for you. The simple truth is that you cannot take food labels at face value. Today I’m going to cover the different kinds of food labels out there, and how you can make more informed choices the next time you’re out running groceries.

Deceptive Claims

Let’s start with claims. These are simple statements that a food product either is or is not a certain thing. Take a food product that states it’s ‘All Natural’. It could be a cereal, frozen meal, or snack food and still claim to be all natural. The problem? Unless the food contains an animal-based food like eggs, poultry, meat, or fish, this statement is absolutely meaningless. The term ‘natural’ has no regulation, giving manufacturers leeway to manipulate the marketing for their product and pack other less favorable ingredients like artificial sweeteners, preservatives, and colors. Furthermore, the FDA also doesn’t even consider how the food was made. Pasteurization, irradiation, and pesticides could all come into a play and still, a product can get slapped with an ‘All Natural’ label. [1]

Next up is the ‘NON-GMO project’ label. While I am all for organic, clean produce, I do believe that many of us are getting the rug pulled out underneath us on this one. At this time, there are technically only ten GMO crops and one GMO meat on the market: corn, canola oil, soy, alfalfa, cotton, potatoes squash, sugar beets, papaya, apples, and salmon (AquAdvantage). [2] [3]
Unless the food (product) contains one or more of these legitimate GMOs, you’re basically getting hoodwinked into paying more money for a label. Talk about false advertising!

Here’s another deceptive label, and it’s a bit of a trick question- ‘100% Hormone Free’. To preface, I am completely against conventional factory farming as well as nutrient-poor meat. And I don’t want hormones in my food. However, this label should only pertain to beef and dairy products. Poultry, on the other hand, is not allowed to have ANY hormones whatsoever. So, if you think that paying extra for a chicken thigh because its label claims to be ‘100% Hormone Free’, then think again. [4] Hormone use in poultry production has been banned by the US government since the 1950s, so don’t give in to false advertising. [5]

Let’s take a look at eggs, because they deserve a category of their own. I’m going to run down the various labels you can find on an egg carton and what they really mean:

• Cage-Free: This term has very little meaning in the legal sense. Instead of being confined to a small cage, hens are given a larger one in the form of a henhouse. These are often just as crowded as individual cages. So, while the hens have some level of openness to roam about in, it’s not very much.
• Free-Range: The chickens ate mostly grains and maybe wild plants and insects. They also may have had some accessibility to outdoor space. However, government regulations for this term aren’t very strict, so there’s no guaranteeing that the hens are actually spending time outdoors or are choosing to remain inside.
• Pasteurized: Not to be confused with pasture-raised (see below), the eggs were heated to a certain temperature in order to get rid of any potential pathogens.
• Pasture Raised: The hens were free to roam and forage around a pastured area. The only drawback here is that this label has yet to be recognized by the USDA.
• Omega-3 Enriched: The chickens ate an omega-3-enriched diet, making their eggs a good source of omega-3 fatty acids.
• Vegetarian-Fed: Pretty self-explanatory- the hens ate a vegetarian diet.
• Organic: As long as the chicken did not consume an organic crop (like the ones I mentioned earlier), they’re considered organic.
• Non-GMO, No Antibiotics, and No Added Hormones: All of these are misleading statements. Chickens are not treated with hormones, and as for antibiotics, these are not used regularly in the egg industry. Most eggs are naturally free of antibiotics, and on the rare occasion that a chicken receives antibiotics in order to treat an infection, they either lower their production of eggs or rarely, if ever, produce any eggs.
  [6] [7]

By this point, I think we all know what to expect from the term ‘Gluten Free’. A product is free of gluten. Unless you have a confirmed diagnosis of gluten intolerance and/or Celiac disease, this label is definitely a lifesaver. But with that being said, if you’re avoiding gluten as a means of eliminating problematic foods or cleaning up your diet, then don’t be duped by the term ‘Gluten Free’. It encompasses so many products, from desserts and snacks to salad dressings and frozen meals. A lot of people will inhale an entire bag of chips and use the excuse that it’s healthy ‘as long as it’s gluten free without realizing that it’s still a bag of chips. Not to mention the fact that many of these foods actually contain more calories, carbs, and sugars than their non-gluten counterparts! (As a side note, you should think the same way when it comes to other packaged foods as well. Just because something claims to be vegan, keto, paleo, etc., does not mean you should go overboard and eat it regularly. Sure, a low-carb cookie might be appropriate from a macronutrient standpoint, but micronutrient wise it most likely is filled with processed, crap ingredients that shouldn’t be a replacement for whole foods.)

Finally, the last label I have a bone to pick with is ‘Sugar-Free’. There are two problems with this term. First is that no matter what you are consuming a food item that was meant to contain sugar in the first place, which means you are still eating junk. The second is that once again you are being tricked. There are many different names and sources of sugar. Even though a product doesn’t straight out say it contains sugar in the ingredients list, it most likely does if it contains one or more of the following:
Sucrose, dextrose, fructose, glucose, galactose, lactose, maltose, barley malt, brown rice syrup, diastatic malt, ethyl, maltol, high fructose corn syrup/corn syrup/corn syrup solids, maltodextrin, dextrin, cane sugar, evaporated cane sugar/juice, caramel, coconut sugar, beet sugar, agave, agave nectar, fruit juice concentrate, honey, maple syrup, molasses, turbinado sugar… there are dozens more, and by this point, I hope you get the point that sugar is a wolf that knows how to hide beneath many different kinds of sheep’s clothing! [8]

What YOU Can Do!

Here’s what you can do to gain the upper hand with your food. Number one is to read your labels. Period. Doesn’t matter if the label claims it’s free of a certain ingredient. Read it anyway. And that goes for supplements, too! Protein powders, greens powders, even products that cater to a specific diet like keto can’t ever be fully trusted. So, keep an eye out for some shady marketing! Always have an air of skepticism and find out the truth by reading the ingredient list.
Next up, strive to avoid boxed, packaged and bottled foods as much as possible. Whole foods from vegetables, fruits, nuts/seeds, grains, and legumes (if you eat them), and meat, dairy, eggs, and fish don’t need to have a paragraph of ingredients. Remember, it’s not the outside that matters- it’s what’s inside. As far as the other labels I mentioned, hopefully now you know how not to give in to false advertising, and why sticking to whole foods is the simplest, easiest way you can outsmart manufacturers.

Sources:

[1] https://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm456090.htm
[2] https://gmoanswers.com/current-gmo-crops
[3] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/first-genetically-engineered-salmon-sold-in-canada/
[4] https://www.uspoultry.org/faq/faq.cfm
[5] https://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/ProductSafetyInformation/ucm055436.htm
[6] https://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-buy-and-appreciate-eggs/
[7] https://foodinsight.org/what-eggs-actly-does-that-label-mean/
[8] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/56-different-names-for-sugar#section9