Consumer Education
Many labels seen on products-generally vegetables, meat, fish, and dairy-aren't really what they seem. Here you can find a list of reliable labels as well as labels that should be avoided, distrusted, or ignored.
Fair Trade Certified
Ensures that farmers and their employees receive a fair price for their product. Also encourages sustainable farming methods and prohibits child labor and the use of synthetic pesticides. ON: chocolate, coffee, tea, rice, sugar, and tropical fruit.
Labels: The Good, The Bad, The Meaningless
Reliable Labels
Bird Friendly
Signifies that growers cultivate their coffee under a diverse canopy of shade trees, providing a home to many bird species. Protects birds habitats and also indicates that coffee is organic. ON: coffee.
Certified Humane
Indicates that animals were raised on a diet free of growth hormones, were only given antibiotics therapeutically, and were provided with safe and healthy living conditions. ON: dairy, eggs, meat, and poultry.
USDA Organic
Organic food is not grown or raised with synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, antibiotics, sewage sludge, irradiation, or genetic modification. Animals raised organically must be fed 100% organic feed. They also can not be given antibiotics or growth hormones. Food producers must follow strict guidelines to use this label. However, certified organic does not necessarily mean sustainably grown, worker-friendly, fuel-efficient, cruelty-free, or healthy. ON: beer, coffee, dairy products, frozen and processed foods, grains, meat, shrimp, wine, and fruits and vegetables.
Dolphin Safe
Means the National Marine Fisheries Service has verified the fish was caught in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean without using practices that deliberately harm dolphins. ON: tuna
Grass Fed
Shows that animals have access to pasture and are fed grain-products, although they can receive hormones and antibiotics. ON: beef, lamb, pork, and milk.
Rainforest Alliance Certified
Promotes tropical conservation as farmers must adhere to environmentally responsible management practices. ON: bananas, citrus, cocoa, and coffee.
Demeter Certified Biodynamic
Signifies that the food was produced without synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, animal byproducts, or genetic modification. ON: cheese, eggs, fruit and vegetables, meat, and wine.
Food Alliance Certified
Ensures that food was produced on a farm with fair and safe working conditions. Also, animals must be treated humanely and not given hormones or non-therapeutic antibiotics. Also, no genetically modified crops can be made. ON: milk or other dairy products, frozen food, fruit, vegetables, meat, and wheat.
Un-Reliable Labels
Antibiotic-Free
This term was banned by the USDA because the claims are often unverified claims of no antibiotics.
Free-Range
The true definition is that “an animal was permitted to graze or forage instead of being confined in a feedlot”. This is deceptive though, as producers can use this label as long as the animals have access to the outdoors, and sometimes that access is as limited as a door in the shed that the animals were raised in.
Natural
The FDA has no formal definition for what "natural" means. Informally it means that the food does not contain added color, artificial flavors, or synthetic substances. Nestle says that the “‘natural’ label means basically whatever the manufacturer decides.”
Non-GMO Project
This is a certification that encourages the education of consumers and food industries. They work with food manufacturers, distributors, growers, and seed suppliers to develop a standard for detection of GMOs and to reduce the contamination risk of the non-GMO food supply with GMOs. This project wants to provide consumers with a choice on whether or not to consume genetically modified foods.
Information gathered from: http://www.nongmoproject.org/