Natural is in. And sweeteners are one category seeing heightened demand.
Many of us have an opinion of what qualifies as “natural” in the world of food ingredients. This includes FDA.
In a July 2008 letter to the Corn Refiners Association, Washington, D.C., FDA stated that, depending on the process used to manufacture high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), it is possible the ingredient can be considered natural. The letter explained that FDA would not object to use of the term “natural” when describing HFCS derived from a manufacturing process whereby the enzymes for making HFCS are fixed to a column by a synthetic fixing agent called glutaraldehyde, but the agent does not come into contact with the syrup. However, FDA would object if a synthetic substance was present in the HFCS.
This position, along with the preamble to the nutrient content claims rulemaking in 1993, which states that natural means “nothing artificial or synthetic has been included in, or has been added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in the food,” is all FDA offers the food industry for use of the term natural in terms of sweeteners.
“It is very possible that someday FDA will choose to define the term,” says Jason Hecker, director of marketing, PureCircle USA Inc., Oak Brook, IL. “I have no reason to believe they would not maintain a definition in line with the 1993 preamble. But this is just speculation, as FDA would have to consider a very broad range of food categories, with sweeteners being just one of them.”
Unregulated, yet powerful
“Consumers seem to be equating ‘natural’ with ‘healthy,’” says Jim Mitchell, development manager, Ciranda Inc., Hudson, WI. “This means that any purely scientific look at an ingredient’s production process will not be enough to satisfy the consumer’s definition of natural.
“Any attempt at defining natural should follow the pattern of the organic industry, and have input from the companies and consumers who are interested in natural products,” adds Mitchell. “The market for natural products is far too large to be set by FDA without an advisory panel from consumers and industry.”
Indeed, there are many opinions and positions on natural in the marketplace today. “Some sweetener manufacturers claim their products are natural, but in reality are created with chemicals, solvents and alcohols,” says Jim May, founder and president, Wisdom Natural Brands, Gilbert, AZ. “In my opinion, this negates the very concept of being natural. I believe strongly the term natural should be reserved for products that come from nature and are not altered by chemicals in the laboratory.”
Many companies self-define natural in the absence of regulation. “Most of the companies we work with have a general in-house definition of natural that eschews genetically modified ingredients and most synthetic chemicals,” says Mitchell. “Defining natural beyond these general principles is difficult in that all consumers are not alike.” For example, extreme naturalists consider table sugar unnatural because it is refined. Even filtered honey is too processed for some.