NaturalSociety  May 14 2014

What does “natural” mean to you? If you’re like most people who see an “all natural” label on a food product, you would surmise that all of the ingredients are natural, not concocted in a lab or subject to man-made chemical processing. Unfortunately, in the world of processed foods, you can’t always judge a box by its labels

Recently Kellogg, the largest U.S. breakfast cereal manufacturer, offered to settle a class action consumer fraud lawsuit regarding their Kashi and Bear Naked cereal brands. At issue, labels that claimed the cereals were “All Natural” and “100% Natural”.

This lawsuit is one example of many where consumers are not just asking for transparency in their food choices, but demanding it and holding food-makers to task.

In this case, consumers accused Kellogg’s of misleading them with “natural” labels despite their cereals containing things like pyroxidine hydrochloride, calcium pantothenate, and hexane-processed soy oil.

The settlement agreement says that Kellogg’s agrees to remove the claims from their cereal labels but stops short of them admitting any misleading or fraudulent claims. It will also set up a $5 million fund for cash compensation to Kashi victims, at an average of $0.50 per box of cereal purchased during specific time periods. A separate Bear Naked fund of $325,000 will also be set up. Continue reading →