FDA agrees to give food industry groups more time to weigh in on what “natural” should denote on product labels

The agency asked the public to comment in November on whether it should define the term and set guidelines for its use on food products. FDA said it has long considered “natural” to mean that nothing artificial or synthetic (including color additives) has been included in, or has been added to, a food that would not normally be expected.

The FDA said in November that the policy did not intend to address food production methods like the use of pesticides, nor did it explicitly address food processing or manufacturing methods like thermal technologies, pasteurization or irradiation.

FDA said its definition also failed to consider whether natural should be used to describe nutrition or other health benefits.

Public comments were originally due Feb. 10, but the Natural Products Association (NPA) asked the FDA for an additional 90 days to gather input from its members.

Specifically, the FDA asks for information and public comment on questions such as:

· Whether it is appropriate to define the term “natural,”

· If so, how the agency should define “natural,” and

· How the agency should determine appropriate use of the term on food labels.

The public now has until May 10 to submit comments.