What Health Claims on Food Labels Mean

FDA has strict guidelines on how certain food label terms can be used. Some of the most common claims seen on food packages:

• Low calorie - Less than 40 calories per serving.
• Low cholesterol - Less than 20 mg of cholesterol and 2 gm or less of saturated fat per serving.
• Reduced - 25% less of the specified nutrient or calories than the usual product.
• Good source of - Provides at least 10% of the DV of a particular vitamin or nutrient per serving.
• Calorie free - Less than 5 calories per serving.
• Fat free / sugar free - Less than 1⁄2 gram of fat or sugar per serving.
• Low sodium - Less than 140 mg of sodium per serving.
• High in - Provides 20% or more of the Daily Value of a specified nutrient per serving.
• High fiber - 5 or more grams of fiber per serving.
• 100% Organic - Products that are completely organic or made of only organic ingredients qualify for this claim and a USDA Organic seal.
• Organic - Products in which at least 95 percent of its ingredients are organic qualify for this claim and a USDA Organic seal.
• Made with Organic Ingredients - These are food products in which at least 70 percent of ingredients are certified organic. The USDA organic seal cannot be used but “made with organic ingredients” may appear on its packaging.

What is Organic?
Essentially, organic meat, poultry and dairy have been raised without antibiotics or growth hormones and organic produce is grown without using most conventional pesticides. There is a little more to it than that. If you want to know more, the USDA website has a good definition - click here to read it. The USDA has certain standards that must be met and inspections have to be done before someone can label their food "organic".

From the research I have read about organic food, it is not necessarily more nutritious than conventionally grown food. Some people feel that there are other potential benefits to eating organic food though. (For example, organic agricultural systems tend to emit less greenhouse gases.) Usually organic food costs more, so I personally tend not to buy it. I do like to buy local produce when I can (or grow it myself) and we buy our beef from Nathan's parents who raise cattle in their back yard so I guess that is where we get our "organic food".