When going to the supermarket, it is essential to know what to choose to maintain optimal health. Do you know what you and your family are eating daily? Is this food supporting your well-being, or is it entirely counterproductive for your goal of feeling healthy? Understanding food labels will help you make the right decision.
Why is it important to read food labels
Learning to read food labels can make a big difference. Subsequently, you will know the quality of the food you put on your plate and where it comes from.
This topic is somewhat complicated and confusing, but I will try to explain it to you as clearly as possible. So, the next time you will know better what you are placing in your basket and bringing home.
Being a smart shopper
Nowadays, labels like organic, non-GMOs, grass-fed, or local are everywhere, but what do they mean? Is it necessary for me to learn all this? I would say – Absolutely, YES!
Are you looking forward to bringing home the best food to nurture your family? It’s crucial to learn about food labels.
Let’s get started!
Food Labels: Organic vs. Conventional
A small detail that will help you identify organic food from conventional food at the grocery store is the price lookup (PLU) code.
Foods produced organically have five-digit codes that begin with the number 9, while conventional produce usually has a four-digit code that begins with a 3 or 4.
Organic
I wanted to start with this one since there is a big polemic around organic food. Is it really healthier than conventionally grown food?
Here are some facts, so you know what organic specifically means.
When compared with conventional produce, organic food is higher in antioxidants. Some research showed that organic fruits and veggies contain higher amounts of Vitamin C and almost 18% more polyphenols. Organic produce forbids the use of GMOs. It also forbids sewage sludge, plant growth regulators, hormones and antibiotics in animals, and synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides.
However, it is good to clarify that organic production isn’t necessarily chemical-free. Indeed, organic farming uses chemicals such as rotenone, pyrethrin, copper, sulfur, and neem. While these chemicals are naturally-derived, they are not necessarily innocuous to human health.
Read this article to learn An effective formula to remove pesticide residues from veggies.
Another fact is that organic production is less taxing on the environment than conventional agriculture. Organic farmers employ beneficial soil-building practices, conservation, manure management, and rotation of soil crops. These techniques significantly reduce the chemical contamination of groundwater and the habitat.
The USDA certification can be costly, time-consuming, and unviable for some small farmers. So, know that you can get some organic food from small local farms. Get to know your farmer and how he produces the food nurturing you and your family.
Conventional
We also know conventional farming as industrial agriculture. It refers to farming systems that include synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and genetically modified organisms. It also includes Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, heavy irrigation, intensive tillage, and concentrated monoculture production.
Regarding human health, some studies show that conventionally-produced crops contain 18-69% fewer antioxidants than organics. They also are four times as likely to contain pesticide residues. And they have, on average, 48% higher concentrations of heavy metals than organically-produced crops.
Some studies show no more significant benefits in consuming organic food than conventional food.
However, chemicals humans use in conventional agriculture, such as glyphosate and organophosphate, were initially developed for chemical warfare. What do you think now about the safety of these products?
Continual exposure to these pesticides can affect brain development and fertility since they are neurotoxins and hormonal disruptors. Studies have linked herbicide consumption to obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease as well.
The Dirty Dozen
Every year the list of foods that contain the most pesticides is published. It is known as “The Dirty Dozen.”
It is a wise health decision to buy, at least, these foods in their organic version.
The list generally includes Apples, Celery, Sweet Bell Peppers, Peaches, Strawberries, Nectarines, Grapes, Spinach, Lettuce, Cucumbers, Blueberries, and Potatoes.
Bioengineered
It’s a label used on any food that has been bioengineered or contains one or more bioengineered ingredients.
Among the bioengineered food, we can find alfalfa, apples, canola, corn, cotton, eggplant, papaya, pineapple, potatoes, salmon, soybeans, squash, and sugar beets.
There is a weird mumbo jumbo going on with this term.
Basically, bioengineered is any food that contains detectable genetic material modified by in vitro recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (rDNA) techniques.
Man has created this type of food in a laboratory.
The fact is that there is not a GMO food label around just yet. And from my viewpoint, this is just a fancy way of saying: “This contains GMOs.” But scientists seem to like the “Bioengineered” terminology more.
GMO-free, non-GMO or no GMOs
GMOs are plants or animals that humans have disgustingly modified with genetic material from bacteria, viruses, or other plants and animals. GROSS! And here’s a fun fact: 70-80% of processed food contains GMOs.
Foods labeled GMO-free don’t contain any GMO products in their ingredients.
More about food labels on meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products
Antibiotic-free
It refers to an animal that has not been treated with antibiotics during its lifetime.
We can see this label primarily on dairy products. It is more common for meat products to use “raised without antibiotics” or “without antibiotics administered.”
Free-range
We can see this label on eggs and poultry production in the United States. It means that the birds can be freely outdoors for at least part of the day. It doesn’t mean cruelty-free, antibiotic-free, or even that the animals spend most of their life outdoors.
Cage-free
It means that the birds were raised without cage batteries. It is as ambiguous as the previous label. Among them, you cannot know many details: how they have been fed, or if they have grown in confined places, even not being in cages.
Pasture-raised
This label indicates that the animal was raised outdoors in a pasture where it was able to eat grasses and other plants, move around freely, and carry out its natural behaviors.
However, a pasture-raised animal might have been fed with grain, especially in cold weather places, during the winter when the snow covers the pasture.
Grain-fed
This label means that the farmers fed the animal primarily a grain diet.
You will usually find this label on pork and poultry since they can’t survive only eating grass. They need some grains in their diets.
If you find a 100% grass-fed chicken, let me know, I’ve been looking for it for a while.
You will easily find “pasture-raised chicken” and “pasture-raised pork” because animals on pasture can have their diet supplemented with grain. A “100% vegetarian diet” claim will ensure that the animal was not fed with animal by-products.
The main problem with grain-fed animals is that these grains are usually GMOs. If the meat is organic, the animal can’t have been fed with GMOs.
However, the cows’ natural diet is not grain-based. A grain-fed beef will contain fewer levels of Omega 3 and more levels of Omega 6. As a result, consuming this beef will be highly inflammatory to your body.
Interesting eh?
Grass-fed
When buying beef, lamb, goat meat, milk, or derivatives, it is better if they are grass-fed. The grass is their natural food!
If, on the contrary, these products are labeled as grain-fed, it means they are rich in Omega 6, therefore, highly inflammatory to the human body.
Grass-fed meat is leaner and lower in fat and calories than grain-fed.
Producers usually don’t supply grass-fed animals with animal by-products, synthetic hormones, or antibiotics to promote growth or prevent disease. However, they might have to use antibiotics to treat some diseases.
Select products labeled “100% grass-fed” to ensure they were not fed with grains a few months before slaughter.
Hormone-free
The labels “raised without added hormones,” “no hormones administered,” or “no synthetic hormones” all mean that the animal did not receive synthetic hormones.
The law forbids farmers to give any hormones to hogs and poultry.
rBGH-free or rBST-free
You can find this label on dairy products. Farmers didn’t inject Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) or Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin (rBST) into dairy cows to increase their milk production artificially.
Local
Farmers produce local food within a short distance of where other people buy it and consume it. Usually within 100 miles.
Farms can use conventional or organic practices to produce Local food and may include GMOs.
Local food doesn’t have to travel as far, so it helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve our carbon footprint.
Usually, it’s fresher.
One fun thing about consuming local food is that you can visit the farm, meet your farmer, ask every kind of question about how they produce the food, and see the practices they implement with your eyes.
Some confusing Food Labels
Natural label
“Natural” meat and poultry means these products cannot contain artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, or other artificial ingredients.
These products are generally minimally processed.
This label doesn’t mean organic, raised without hormones, or grass-fed, so don’t let the word NATURAL mislead you.
Certified naturally grown
It is an alternative to the USDA’s organic label for veggies, livestock, and apiaries for producers who sell locally and directly to their customers.
This label means producers didn’t use synthetic pesticides on plants or hormones and antibiotics on animals or genetically engineered seeds.
Healthy
It is a marketing term for processed food.
To qualify as “healthy,” a product has to be low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol. It also should be relatively low in sodium and contain at least 10% of vitamins A or C, calcium, iron, protein, or fiber.
At this point, I have a question: Is processed food really as “HEALTHY” as this label claims?
Find out The Most inflammatory foods. You might find some of them among your favorite ingredients, labeled as healthy food.
Nonirradiated
Farmers sometimes irradiate meat and vegetables to kill fungi, viruses, and bacteria and reduce foodborne illnesses such as Salmonella and E.coli.
This label means that farmers have not exposed the food to radiation.
Wow! There is so much to talk about this topic that I could write a book. But I think, for now, it’s enough.
I hope this guide helps you understand food labels and make better decisions when choosing your food. If you have any questions or suggestions, I would love to hear them in the comments.
See you next time!
