How to Read Egg Carton Labels

If you are confused and concerned by egg labeling, you are not alone. When you read what each label allows or disallows, it is in one moment comforting, and in the next, shocking. For instance, Cage-Free allows the chickens who lay the eggs to roam free, but does not guarantee that they are exposed to sunlight and also allows beak cutting, a gruesome practice to keep the chickens from pecking each other in close quarters.

So read more, and consider getting your eggs from a local farm with a reputation you can count on.

This simple graphic from Willy Blackmore, Take Part's food editor helps us make better decisions when we feel the chill of the refrigerator aisle and reach for those cartons.

 Click the graphic to make it bigger and more readable.

Via: TakePart.com

"All Natural" Could be Anything But...

‪You might think that the label, "All Natural" means that the ingredients in that package are good for you, but the FDA does not consistently define this claim, nor regulate it.  It’s policy (not law) is that natural foods contain no added color, synthetic substances or flavors, and that nothing artificial or synthetic has been included in, or added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in food.  But what is considered “synthetic”?  High fructose corn syrup is one example of an inconsistency and is under scrutiny by a number of courts.  GMO products are also allowed with this label.‬

‪Steve Kluting, an attorney with Varnum, who focuses his practice on food industry issues, including product labeling, explains:  ‬

‪While the use of "organic" and its related terms is strictly regulated, the use of "natural" and "all natural" on food labeling is much more loosely dictated under the law.  To label a product as "natural", a food business does not have clear and straight-forward rules to comply with so, as a result, the grocery aisle is filled with "natural" products that a consumer might purchase despite that consumer having a definition of "natural" that's vastly different from the FDA, the USDA, or the food processor that labeled it.

Read more about Organic Labeling in this quick guide