After watching some afternoon television today I saw a commercial that caught my attention. It was for Sierra Mist Natural. Really, Sierra Mist Natural. I didn't believe my ears at first as why would a soda be calling itself "natural". Sure enough it was the name of the soda that I heard......
Earlier this week I posted about "deceptive" product labels and here is a prime example. According to the FDA, companies can use the word "natural" on their food labels as long as the item does not contain any artificial ingredients, coloring ingredients, or chemical preservatives, and, in the case of meat and/or poultry, is minimally processed. This leaves alot of leeway....Pepsico is marketing this product as natural because they have swapped the controversial high fructose corn syrup with sucrose (or in other words, table sugar). Additionally they are advertising it this way as the product has only 5 ingredients listed: sucrose, carbonated water, citric acid, natural flavor and potassium citrate.
As a consumer, it is important to really look at the ingredients and not be tempted by words like natural. Here is a prime example of where natural doesn't mean healthy. Maybe if you were a soda drinker and you were swapping a traditional kind for this it would be a better choice (which is hard for me to type) however this item is not part of a healthy diet. Furthermore, what exactly is "natural flavor"? Could they be a little more specific?
