The thing is, I don't know, and can't know, which is the reason for this article.

“I think you've got to keep it simple, keep it fresh. Stay away from all that processed stuff, read the labels"
-Emeril Lagasse

There is this one saying that comes to my mind when it comes to eating food: you are what you eat. It seems like such a simple and straightforward idea. But it would surprise you how many people don’t read the ingredients on their food, or how many times people eat Wendy’s chili not knowing that they are digesting silicone dioxide (aka Glass). Would it interest you to know what is in your food? If you knew what exactly was the ‘natural flavoring’ for vanilla or raspberry, you’d find out that all this time, you were eating "castoreum” which is defined officially as “a mixture of the anal secretions and urine of beavers”. Don’t worry, castoreum is FDA approved, and is since it is simply labeled as ‘natural flavoring’, you won’t even notice. For the sake of your time, and your eyes, let’s simplify it to a more critical issue. Food Sensitivities. Natural flavorings don’t provide people who have food sensitivities with any sense of security in making their decisions on what they can eat. The issue is that we should be labeling everything in the food. We need to provide exact ingredients, the label for GMO, and Organic or non-organic. Opponents of labeling try to focus the argument on GMO labeling, but I want to re-direct this argument towards a more common argument. Why do people not want to know what is in the ingredients labeled as ‘natural flavors’? Personally, I deal with many food sensitivities and the struggle with having to debate whether ‘natural seasonings’ or ‘natural flavors’ has onions in it is difficult. For chili sauce, that’s a yes, but for something like chicken alfredo, that is debatable. Often I find it hard to eat at all because it’s too difficult trying to play guessing games with the words on the back of the box or food package. It’s time we started a movement that encouraged companies to label their foods entirely. They created a movement that inspired companies to label for GMO. Now, labeling as GMO or ORGANIC is an attractive option. What aspect of being able to know what was in your foods would not appeal to you? Labeling completely would allow for transparency between companies and their consumers. It would push and encourage companies to eliminate ingredients that they wouldn’t want on their labels. It would give them a reason to improve their product, not just the label or marketing. I’m not asking Skittles or Rockstar Energy Drink to change their labeling, I’m just asking that companies label their ingredients as completely as possible. At least start by defining what ‘natural seasoning’ or ‘natural flavors’ means. Because the last time I checked, I don’t know of any individual chemical, plant, animal or organism that has the name of ‘natural flavors’.