What You Should Know About Eco-Labels

As a nutritionist, you want to guide your patients to adhere to the most healthful foods and diets, and to avoid harmful pesticides and antibiotics in produce, meat and dairy foods. The problem: food industry and government regulations have prompted the widespread proliferation of eco-labels, with more cropping up every month.

Regrettably, eco-labels have suffered from a lack of standards, uniformity and oversight. There’s simply too much misinformation on many of today’s labels. "Hundreds of eco-labels exist on all kinds of products, and there is the potential for companies and producers to make false claims," said Shana Starobin, a food label expert at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment.

The good news is that some labels like USDA’s organic certification follow federal standards. USDA-certified organic food is regulated by the government, which means producers must meet government guidelines to place that label on their food. While "100 percent organic" must contain 95 percent organic ingredients, "made with organic ingredients" means only 70 percent must be organic—with 30 percent allowed to come from who knows where. 

Complicating things even further, some labels are governed by non-government standards, third-party certifications, or certifications by unknown organizations or biased industry groups. This problem is compounded when fruits and vegetables from Europe or Mexico enter the US with their own eco-labels.

California voters recently rejected a statewide requirement for labeling foods containing genetically modified ingredients. While some have suggested that consumers visit growers and farmers in an effort to learn if their grapes, almonds, citrus and vegetables are certified biodynamic and organic, others say this imposes too much of a burden on urbanites.

More realistic is Consumer Reports’ rating system, which uses a database and website to evaluate food and environmental labels. Their search tools provide expert evaluation of labels and you can search by product, category, or certifier, and easily compare labels using their report cards.

For really busy consumers, the GoodGuide mobile app makes it fast and easy to find safe, healthy, green, and ethical products, instantly, while shopping in a store. Simply download GoodGuide’s mobile app from Apple’s iTunes App Store or the Android Marketplace. Users need only take a photo of a product's bar code and instantly get the information they need.

While many consumers believe that organic fruits and vegetables may be contain higher doses of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, the latest research remains inconclusive. And how much fresh air and green pastures free-range animals enjoy has little, if any effect on the nutritional quality of their eggs or meat. For example, a recent study published in the journal Poultry Science found no difference in levels of vitamins A and E or cholesterol content between free-range and caged eggs.

Eco-labels have their place, but their value in selecting healthful foods should be noted in the light of current research.

Photo courtesy of MorgueFile.com