Claims
Clean-label and claims glossary
One term per section. A plain definition, then the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom wording.
Riana Lynn, founder and CEO
Dataset date: March 3, 2026
- Sample
- Eight terms that show up on grocery packs.
- Source
- Public guidance from FDA, USDA, CFIA, and UK food and advertising rules, crosswalked for formulation teams.
- Counted
- Whether the market defines the word, and what that wording constrains. Not a count of packs.
A formulation crosswalk, not legal advice. Confirm the current text before a word goes on a pack. The downloadable file is a working table until Journey AI replaces it.
These words get used as if one definition traveled with the pack. It does not. Each section is one term: a plain definition, then the wording that applies in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Where a market has no definition, the section says so. A private seal is not the law.
Natural
A claim about what was not added. It is not a synonym for organic, and the three markets do not share one rule.
United States
FDA has not issued a formal definition for most foods. Its longstanding policy treats natural as meaning nothing artificial or synthetic, including color additives, that would not normally be expected in that food. It does not mean certified, and it does not mean minimally processed in the way the word is often heard.
Canada
CFIA allows natural when the food has not been significantly changed and contains no added vitamins, minerals, artificial flavour, or food additive. Drying or milling can still qualify. Chemical alteration generally does not.
United Kingdom
FSA guidance uses natural for a product produced by nature, not the work of man or interfered with by man. Chemical synthesis, and flavourings that fail the natural-flavouring test, take a product out of the word.
Clean label
A briefing term for a short list and no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. Not a defined claim.
United States
No statutory definition. Nothing in FDA labeling law turns the word clean into a standard the ingredient list has to meet.
Canada
No statutory definition. CFIA will still treat it as a claim that must not mislead. If the list is long, or still carries flavors and gums, the word is doing work the list does not support.
United Kingdom
No statutory definition. Under UK food information and advertising rules it is an impression claim. A short list is not required by the word, which is why the word is risky.
No artificial flavors
An absence claim about flavor class. It does not mean the product is unflavored.
United States
FDA distinguishes natural flavor from artificial flavor. The claim means no flavoring that is artificial under that rule. It does not prohibit natural flavors, colors, or sweeteners.
Canada
Artificial flavour has to be declared. No artificial flavours has to be true of the finished food. It is not a claim about sweetness, color, or processing.
United Kingdom
Natural flavouring has a compositional test under retained flavouring rules. No artificial flavours is an absence claim and still has to be accurate. It does not mean no flavouring.
Non-GMO
A voluntary absence claim. It is not the mandatory disclosure regime, and it is not organic.
United States
There is no single federal definition for a voluntary non-GMO claim. The National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard is a different, mandatory disclosure with its own threshold. A third-party seal is a private standard, not an FDA rule.
Canada
A voluntary claim. CFIA expects it to be true and not misleading. It is not the same test as a US bioengineered disclosure.
United Kingdom
GM food and feed has to be labeled under retained rules when GM material is present above the adventitious threshold. A non-GM claim still has to be accurate on its own. Skipping a disclosure is not the test.
Organic
A certification claim. The seal is the evidence, not the adjective.
United States
USDA National Organic Program. Organic means at least 95 percent certified organic ingredients. Made with organic is a different claim, at least 70 percent. The seal is the evidence.
Canada
Canada Organic Regime. The organic claim is a certification, with its own 95 percent threshold and its own mark. A US organic seal does not replace it.
United Kingdom
Retained organic regulation, and a certification. A private mark sits on top of the law. It does not replace it.
No added sugar
Not the same claim as sugar-free. A fruit ingredient used to sweeten can still count as an addition.
United States
FDA nutrient-content rules: no sugar or sugar-containing ingredient added during processing. A juice concentrate added to sweeten counts. Sugar-free is a different claim, about the amount per serving.
Canada
CFIA treats added sugars and unsweetened as related claims with their own conditions. The question is whether a fruit ingredient was used for sweetness, not whether the word sugar appears.
United Kingdom
Under retained nutrition-claim rules, no added mono- or disaccharides and no other food used for its sweetening properties. If sugars are naturally present, the pack has to say so.
High protein
Three markets, three tests. The US percent does not travel.
United States
A high nutrient claim needs 20 percent or more of the daily value per reference amount. For protein that is 10 grams when the daily value is 50 grams. Good source is the 10 to 19 percent band. The amount is the test, not the ingredient list.
Canada
Canada uses a protein rating, not the US daily-value test. A source claim and an excellent-source claim clear different ratings. Copying a US percent onto a Canadian panel does not make the claim.
United Kingdom
Under retained nutrition-claim rules, high protein means at least 20 percent of the food's energy comes from protein. Source of protein is 12 percent of energy. Grams on the front are not the test.
Sustainable
No shared definition. The word needs a metric, a boundary, and a comparison, or it should not be used.
United States
FTC Green Guides expect an environmental claim to be specific and substantiated. Unqualified sustainable does not say sustainable at what, compared with what, or over what boundary.
Canada
Competition Bureau guidance on environmental claims runs the same direction. A general green claim has to be backed. An ingredient list is not the backing.
United Kingdom
The CMA green-claims code and ASA advertising rules both reject an unqualified environmental claim. Name the metric, the boundary, and the comparison, or do not use the word.