It is natural to think that foods labelled “natural”, “all natural”, or “100% natural” are healthier, but what do those labels actually mean?

The answer isn’t as simple as it should be. To begin with, we need to divide foods into two categories. In the first category, we have meat, and in the second, everything else.

Meat
In the United States, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) must approve label claims for meat, including the “natural”, “no hormones” and “no antibiotics” claims. However, what the “natural” claim means is just that the product is no more than “minimally processed” and does not contain any artificial ingredients (including chemical preservatives and artificial flavoring or coloring). It doesn’t necessarily mean that the cow wasn’t given antibiotics and hormones before it became a food product (such as milk or meat, though the USDA only concerns itself with the latter).

Now, if hormones or antibiotics were given to a cow, they might be found in its meat, which would then contain artificial ingredients. But is the meat actually tested, or can it be labelled “natural” simply if nothing was added to it? (Which is to say, if nothing was added to the meat after the cow was killed and thus became beef.)

Considering that (1) the “no hormones” and “no antibiotics” claims require special documentation and (2) the “natural” claim only covers product processing and ingredient addition, the answer seems to be that a piece of beef can be labelled “natural” even if the originating cow was given hormones or antibiotics.