The FDA has never defined the word natural on a food label through rulemaking, and there are no regulations setting out what a food must contain, or avoid, for a company to print the word on the package. The agency has an informal policy instead, under which natural has been taken to mean that nothing artificial or synthetic, including all color additives regardless of source, has been included in or added to a food when it would not normally be expected to be there.
That policy covers what was added to the food and nothing else, which the FDA states plainly. The policy “was not intended to address food production methods, such as the use of pesticides,” it never addressed processing or manufacturing, and the agency says it “did not consider whether the term ‘natural’ should describe any nutritional or other health benefit.”
So a natural claim says nothing about how the food was grown, what was done to it between the field and the package, or whether it is better for you. The ingredient list is required, specific and enforceable, while a natural claim on the front of the package is a marketing term supported by an informal policy. It is important to know that “natural” and “organic” are not interchangeable, since “organic” is defined by regulation and verified through certification while “natural” is neither. When a natural claim is the reason for a purchase, the question that produces an answer is “natural” compared to what, and that answer is in the ingredient list.
Source: FDA, Use of the Term Natural on Food Labeling. https://www.fda.gov/food/nutrition-food-labeling-and-critical-foods/use-term-natural-food labeling
