Currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t have a formal definition for “natural” as a food labeling term. However, they do have policy about its use in food labeling. Ultimately, the FDA considers “natural” to mean that nothing artificial or synthetic has been put into a food that wouldn’t be expected to be there.

First of all, foods containing natural flavors, sweeteners, or other plant-derived substances can be labeled natural. In addition, foods containing highly processed high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) can also be labeled “natural”, since the synthetic materials used to generate HFCS are not incorporated into the final product (2).