Labels often misleading
By Karen Fernau (The Arizona Republic)
Updated: 2006-10-03 15:27
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Natural beef: This label means various things, depending on the producer. It can mean beef without food coloring or artificial additives. Or it can mean that cattle were raised without being fed antibiotics, hormones or animal proteins.
Free-range poultry or eggs: Birds raised for meat, mainly chickens and turkeys, may be sold as free range if they have access to the outdoors. No other criteria - environmental quality, size of pen or population density - apply.
Cage-free eggs: These birds are not raised in traditional cages, but that does not mean the birds are raised outside or allowed to run free. They can be raised on the floor of a poultry house or barn, and not be allowed to roam in outdoor pens.
Farmed fish: Also called ocean raised, farm-raised fish are raised in pens in the ocean or freshwater ponds and fed antibiotics.
Scientific studies report trace amounts of chemical contaminants in both farmed and wild fish. Environmentalists claim the amounts in farmed-raised fish are harmful, but some food safety experts claim the amounts are within acceptable limits and similar to the amounts found throughout our food supply.