WASHINGTON – It’s a fight that has the nation’s largest chicken producers squabbling, Big Sugar and Big Corn skirmishing and Sara Lee mixing it up with Farmer John.
Lawmakers, too, have joined the fray, which already is thick with dueling petitions and at least one lawsuit. Meanwhile, government food regulators are uncertain how to proceed.
The question is at face value a simple one: When can food products, from chicken breasts to soda pop, rightfully be labeled as “natural?”
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Wrapped up in it, however, are some far trickier questions: Is it ethical to charge for saltwater that increasingly pumps up supermarket chickens? Is the sodium lactate used as a flavoring and preservative in sliced roast beef “natural?” How about the high-fructose corn syrup that sweetens sodas?
Read the rest of Battle over ‘natural’ food designation at MSNBC…
