What does ‘natural’ meat really mean?

Consumers want “natural” meat — and the biggest meat companies want to sell it to them.

American shoppers are reaching for healthier, more environmentally and animal-friendly meat products, with 39 percent saying “all-natural” is the most important claim when purchasing red meat, according to a recent survey by Mintel. But there’s one problem: The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that when it comes to meat and poultry, the term “natural” means only that the product has no artificial ingredients and has been minimally processed.

It doesn’t mean anything when it comes to antibiotics, hormones or preservatives.

Companies such as Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride and Hormel have been snapping up smaller, outwardly progressive competitors in the burgeoning organic food space, seeking to capitalize on changing consumer tastes. At the same time, however, some of the major meat companies have been offering their own products as “natural,” replete with labels featuring blue skies and green fields.

On April 8, the Superior Court of the District of Columbia — a jurisdiction with stringent consumer protection laws-dismissed a lawsuit by the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) alleging Hormel was misleading consumers. The court held that as long as manufacturer labels are approved by the USDA, the advertising can use the “natural” claims. “[I]f a producer can accurately use a term in a label,” the court wrote, “the producer should be able to use the same term in its advertising.”

Hormel said in its most recent quarterly filing that its “Natural Choice” line of meats “showed excellent growth.” But in a 600-plus-page court filing in January, in which Hormel responded to the ALDF lawsuit, the company disclosed how it makes some of its Natural Choice products, as well as its perception of what consumers think they’re buying.

In statements disclosed in the filing, a company executive said the same pigs it uses to make its famous Spam brand meat product are also used in Natural Choice pork products. Those pigs are often given antibiotics and are rarely allowed outdoors.

“It’s a massive attempt to manipulate and dupe the consumer to purchase something they have no intention to purchase,” said David Muraskin, a food project attorney at Public Justice and lead lawyer for ALDF. The group said it plans to appeal the April 8 ruling.

“Our position has always been that Hormel Natural Choice products are produced, labeled, and marketed in conformance with all applicable laws and regulations,” Hormel said.