Will Hormel suit outcome signal end of ‘natural’ label?

The overuse of labels on meat and poultry products has been the topic of many discussions, and the consensus reached in most of those discussions I have heard is many of those labels are meaningless. Now, the judicial system agrees.On April 8, the Superior Court of the District of Columbia dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), that accused Hormel Foods of being deceptive through the use of the word “natural,” Bloomberg News reported.ALDF argued that products from animals that have been treated with antibiotics or have been raised indoors, are not “naturally” raised by most consumers perceptions.But according to the court, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) allows the use of the word “natural” as long the product carrying the label contains no artificial ingredients and has been minimally processed, and therefore, the Hormel products in question like the Natural Choice pork products, do meet the criteria to legally carry the “natural label.”