What Exactly Is a “Natural” Product?

Here’s a quick conversation I had at the Opportunity Green with the folks from Steaz, who offer a truly healthy and good-tasting carbonated beverage. I happened to be sipping the blueberry pomegranate flavor, when I began:

Craig: Wow, this is good. Please tell me about it.

Steaz rep: Well, it’s all natural.

Craig: So there’s fruit, water, and essentially nothing else?

Steaz rep: Well, there’s actually no fruit.

Craig: You mean there is not a molecule of blueberry or pomegranate in what I’m drinking?

Steaz rep: That’s right.

Craig: Well, not to be combative, but exactly in what sense is this “all natural?”

Steaz rep: (silence) Um, that’s a good question.

Craig: Hey, don’t feel bad. In my estimation, the word “natural” lost all meaning in our language a long time ago. Regardless of how you define the term, this is a hell of a lot closer to “natural” than the chemicals that are in most of what we eat and drink.