10 Food Label Lies

Don’t spend extra money buying into marketing hype and misinformation. Look for food claims and labels you can trust.

Antibiotic-free

The lie: Like "no added hormones," "antibiotic free" is a meaningless term, and it’s actually illegal to use it on packages, according to the USDA. Manufacturers often skirt the issue by using phrases like “raised without antibiotics” or “no antibiotics administered.” Furthermore, some meat producers use those phrases while dousing animals with anti-microbials, drugs that work identically to antibiotics but are defined differently by the FDA. And from an animal welfare perspective, "antibiotic free" isn't always a good thing. Operators of big concentrated animal feeding operations may overuse antibiotics to fatten up chickens and hogs faster, but small farmers save antibiotics for when animals get sick, as they should be used.

To get the real thing: Under organic regulations, any animal treated with antibiotics must be removed from organic production (it can still be sold as a conventionally raised product, though), and purchasing organic meat and dairy is the only way to truly avoid them. Or, find a local farmer who uses antibiotics on his or her herd responsibly.