Which Words on a Food Package Are Backed by a Federal Number, and Which Are Not
Credit: Daily Vitality
You pick up a box, and the front of it is doing a lot of talking. Keto. Clean. Low sodium. Gut-friendly. Made with real fruit. Some of those words are promises with a number behind them, written into federal regulation down to the half gram. Others are simply words, and a brand can print them without meeting any set standard at all. On the shelf they look exactly the same.
So we sorted them. We took 40 of the most common front-of-pack terms, looked up each one in the current federal regulations, and placed it in one of three bins: defined, partly defined, or undefined. Then we went a step further and checked the words against the nutrition panels of real products, using the federal government's own database of branded food labels.
What follows is a reference you can come back to. The main table lists every term with its regulator, its citation and its threshold where one exists. A second, shorter table shows how often products carrying the defined terms met the number. And for the words with no definition, you'll see the range of what those products actually contained, which turns out to be the most useful thing to know about them.
We wanted the list to come from the shelf, not from our own hunches. The starting point was the Branded Foods download from USDA's FoodData Central, in the release dated April 30, 2026. That file holds about 2 million label records. After keeping only the most recent record for each barcode, limiting to products sold in the United States and removing discontinued items, 462,142 products from 22,830 brand owners remained.
Next came a candidate list of 79 claim words and phrases, counted in each product's description text. Three kinds of words were set aside before ranking: taste and quality words such as premium and gourmet; words that mostly appear inside a standard food name, such as enriched flour and whole wheat bread; and animal-raising and curing claims such as grass-fed, cage-free and uncured, which USDA handles through a separate label-approval system. The 39 most frequent remaining terms made the list. Keto (757 products) and clean (157) qualified on count. Gut-friendly, with 35 products, did not, so it was added as the 40th term because it is one of the three words this piece set out to check.
For each defined term, we calculated the relevant nutrient per labeled serving from the panel data and counted how many products met the threshold. For undefined terms there is no threshold to meet, so we report the range of the nutrient a shopper would reasonably assume the word refers to: net carbohydrate on products described as keto, added sugars on products described as clean, fiber on products described as gut-friendly.
This is the same approach we used in the Pumpkin Spice Audit, where ingredient statements from the same database stood in for a trip down every aisle.
A word in a product's database description is not proof that the same word is printed as a claim on the package. The counts below are best read as a picture of how these words travel with products, not as a ruling on any single label.
One rule explains most of this table. Under the general principles for nutrient content claims, a statement that characterizes the level of a nutrient, such as "low sodium," may not appear on a label unless a regulation defines it. A plain amount, such as "5 grams of fat," is allowed as long as it doesn't imply the level is high or low. Words that say nothing measurable about a nutrient fall outside that system altogether.
Thresholds are set per "reference amount customarily consumed," the standard serving FDA assigns to each food category. The panel figures in the last column are per labeled serving.
| Organic | Defined | USDA, 7 CFR 205.301 | At least 95% organically produced ingredients (100% for "100 percent organic," 70% for "made with organic") | 2023 | 27,979 products. Certification is not on the panel. Added sugars, where declared: median 1.8 g, and 18% at 10 g or more. Example: Raley's Ginger Organic Kombucha, 1.9 g |
| Fresh | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.95 | Raw, never frozen or heat processed, when the word implies the food is unprocessed | 1993 | 4,587 products, mostly phrases such as "bakery fresh." Not checkable from a panel. Example: Meijer Steakhouse Rolls |
| Low fat | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.62(b)(2) | 3 g fat or less | 2007 | 89.4% of 3,876 met it. Median 2.5 g. Example: a Walmart 1% lowfat chocolate milk, 2.5 g per cup |
| Fat free / nonfat | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.62(b)(1) | Less than 0.5 g fat | 2007 | 96.1% of 3,572 met it. Example: Oikos Triple Zero nonfat yogurt, 0 g |
| Light / lite | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.56 | One-third fewer calories or 50% less fat than a named reference food | 1995 | Relative claim, not checkable from one panel. Median 80 calories. Example: Yoplait Light Key Lime Pie, 80 calories per 170 g |
| Sugar free / zero sugar | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.60(c)(1) | Less than 0.5 g sugars | 1997 | 98.9% of 2,477 met it. Example: Welch's Zero Sugar Tropical Punch, 0 g |
| Gluten-free | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.91 | Below 20 parts per million of gluten | 2020 | 2,420 products. A lab measure that does not appear on the panel |
| Reduced fat | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.62(b)(4) | At least 25% less fat than a reference food | 2007 | Relative claim. Median 5 g, driven by 2% milk. Example: a Walmart organic 2% reduced fat milk, 5 g per cup |
| No salt added / unsalted | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.61(c)(2) | No salt added during processing, on a food normally made with salt | 1995 | 95.9% of 1,868 list no salt as an ingredient. Median sodium 0 mg. Example: Fleischmann's unsalted margarine sticks, 0 mg |
| Diet | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 105.66(e) | The food must also qualify as low calorie or reduced calorie | 1993 | 98.0% of 1,290 had 40 calories or fewer. Example: Polar Diet Cream soda, 0 calories |
| Zero calorie / calorie free | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.60(b)(1) | Fewer than 5 calories | 1997 | 99.2% of 664 met it. Example: a store-brand stevia sweetener, 0 calories |
| Lean | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.62(e), and USDA, 9 CFR 317.362 | Less than 10 g fat, 4.5 g or less saturated fat and less than 95 mg cholesterol, per serving and per 100 g | 2010 | 677 products. 383 carry a percent-lean statement, a separate USDA provision for ground meat. Of the other 294, 69% fit the numbers. Example: Kraft Heinz Lean Smoked Ham, 3.1 g fat per 100 g |
| Lightly salted | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.56(g) | 50% less sodium added than in the reference food | 1995 | Relative claim. Median 60 mg sodium. Example: Cape Cod Lightly Salted kettle chips, 60 mg per ounce |
| Reduced sodium / less sodium | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.61(b)(6) | At least 25% less sodium than a reference food | 1995 | Relative claim. Median 360 mg sodium. Example: a Hillshire Brands honey lower sodium ham, 360 mg per 56 g |
| Low sodium | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.61(b)(4) | 140 mg sodium or less | 1995 | 94.9% of 528 met it. Median 130 mg. Example: Bush's Low Sodium Pinto Beans, 130 mg |
| High protein | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.54(b) | 20% or more of the Daily Value, which is 10 g | 2001 | 98.0% of 501 met it on label protein. Median 20 g. Example: a ThinkThin Brownie Crunch High Protein bar, 20 g |
| Low calorie | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.60(b)(2) | 40 calories or fewer | 1997 | 96.1% of 460 met it. Example: Lipton Raspberry Diet Low Calorie Iced Tea Mix, 5 calories |
| Healthy | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.65(d) | A set amount from a food group, plus limits on added sugars, sodium and saturated fat | 2024 | 470 products. Food group amounts are not on the panel. Sodium median 100 mg. Example: a KIND Healthy Grains granola bar, 100 mg |
| No sugar added | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.60(c)(2) | No sugar or sugar-containing ingredient added in processing | 1997 | Of 186 that declare added sugars, 97.8% show 0 g. Total sugars: median 6 g |
| Antioxidant | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.54(g) | The named nutrient must have recognized antioxidant activity and reach at least 10% of the Daily Value | 2001 | 367 products. Vitamin levels are mostly missing from the data. Example: a KIND + Antioxidants bar |
| Reduced sugar / less sugar | Defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.60(c)(5) | At least 25% less sugar than a reference food | 1997 | Relative claim. Median 6.2 g sugars. Example: Kellogg's Frosted Flakes Reduced Sugar, 6 g per ounce |
| Natural / all natural | Partly defined | FDA informal policy, no regulation. USDA FSIS policy for meat and poultry | Nothing artificial or synthetic added that would not normally be expected in the food | No rule. Comments closed 2016 | 5,223 products. Of those declaring added sugars, 52% show 0 g and 18% show 10 g or more. Example: Tyson All Natural chicken, 0 g |
| Whole grain | Partly defined | FDA draft guidance, 2006, non-binding | No binding threshold | 2006 draft | 3,353 products. The first ingredient contains the word "whole" in 59%. Fiber median 3 g. Example: a Clif baked whole grain snack bar, 3 g |
| Unsweetened | Partly defined | FDA, 21 CFR 101.60(c)(3) | Allowed as a factual statement. No number attached | 1997 | Of 443 that declare added sugars, 98.2% show 0 g. Total sugars: median 1 g, upper quartile 10 g |
| Omega-3 | Partly defined | FDA final rule, 79 FR 23262 | Levels set for ALA only: "high" at 320 mg, "good source" at 160 mg. No "high in" claims for DHA or EPA | 2016 | 179 products. Fatty acid amounts are mostly missing from the data. Example: a Danone organic milk with DHA omega-3 |
| Plant-based | Undefined | None. FDA draft guidance (2025) covers naming only | None | n/a | 2,245 products. Protein median 10 g, with 32% under 5 g |
| Dairy-free / non-dairy | Undefined | None for dairy-free. 21 CFR 101.4(d) covers one ingredient disclosure for "nondairy" | None | n/a | 2,090 products. Saturated fat median 2.5 g, upper quartile 7 g. Example: Tofutti dairy free American slices, 2.5 g |
| Multigrain | Undefined | None | None | n/a | 1,990 products. The first ingredient contains "whole" in 31%. Fiber median 2 g. Example: Ener-G multigrain brown rice bread, 2 g |
| Simple / simply | Undefined | None | None | n/a | 1,809 products. Median 8 ingredients, and 22 or more in the top 5%. Example: Simply Light Orange, 8 ingredients |
| Probiotic | Undefined | None | None | n/a | 1,454 products. Added sugars median 7 g, with 31% at 10 g or more. Example: a Johanna Foods probiotic honey yogurt, 7 g |
| Superfood | Undefined | None | None | n/a | 1,238 products. Added sugars median 2 g. Example: Laird Superfood Vanilla Creamer, 2 g per tablespoon |
| Vegan | Undefined | None | None | n/a | 898 products. Protein median 4 g. Example: a Target quinoa vegan salad, 4 g |
| Keto | Undefined | None | None | n/a | 757 products. Net carbohydrate median 3.1 g, with 72% at 5 g or less and 5% at 10 g or more. Example: Ketologic Vanilla Keto Meal Powder, about 3 g |
| Wholesome | Undefined | None | None | n/a | 590 products. Added sugars median 0 g, with 12% at 10 g or more. Example: Wholesome Pantry organic raisins, 0 g |
| Vegetarian | Undefined | None | None | n/a | 416 products. Protein median 7 g. Example: Bush's vegetarian baked beans, 7 g |
| Made with real... | Undefined | None. 21 CFR 101.65(b)(3) says it is generally not a nutrient claim | No minimum amount of the named ingredient | n/a | 407 products. Added sugars median 8 g, with 37% at 10 g or more. Example: Kidfresh pancakes made with real blueberries, 8 g |
| Immune support | Undefined | None. Treated as a structure/function claim | None | n/a | 218 products. Added sugars median 0.5 g. Example: a Quaker Oats lemon blackberry immune support electrolyte water, 0 g |
| Paleo | Undefined | None | None | n/a | 160 products. Total carbohydrate median 16 g. Example: Purely Elizabeth Paleo grain-free pancake mix, 0 g added sugars |
| Clean | Undefined | None | None | n/a | 157 products. Added sugars median 4 g, up to 14 g. Median 11 ingredients. Example: a Denver Bodega clean hydration electrolyte drink, 4 g |
| Gut-friendly / gut health | Undefined | None | None | n/a | 35 products. Fiber median 5 g, with 24% under 1 g. Example: a Food First prebiotic fiber and gut health bar, 7 g |
Twenty-one of the 40 terms have a federal definition, and most of them live in a single stretch of FDA's food labeling rules written in 1993 and adjusted since. They follow a pattern that is worth knowing, because once you see it, the front of a package gets much easier to read.
"Free" means an amount small enough to round to zero: less than 0.5 g of fat or sugars, fewer than 5 calories, less than 5 mg of sodium. "Low" is a fixed ceiling. For sodium, the regulation on sodium content claims puts that ceiling at 140 mg. For fat it is 3 g, and for calories it is 40. "High" is a floor: 20% or more of the Daily Value, which works out to 10 g for protein.
"Reduced," "less" and "light" work differently. They are comparisons. A reduced sodium soup needs at least 25% less sodium than the regular version it is compared against, and that regular version can be quite salty. In the label data, products described as reduced sodium had a median of 360 mg per serving, more than two and a half times the 140 mg ceiling for low sodium. Both words are being used correctly. They simply answer different questions.
Here is how matched products scored on the nine defined terms that can be tested from a single panel.
| Zero calorie / calorie free | Fewer than 5 calories | 664 | 99.2% |
| Sugar free / zero sugar | Less than 0.5 g sugars | 2,477 | 98.9% |
| High protein | 10 g protein or more | 501 | 98.0% |
| Diet | 40 calories or fewer | 1,290 | 98.0% |
| Low calorie | 40 calories or fewer | 460 | 96.1% |
| Fat free / nonfat | Less than 0.5 g fat | 3,572 | 96.1% |
| No salt added / unsalted | No salt in the ingredient list | 1,868 | 95.9% |
| Low sodium | 140 mg sodium or less | 528 | 94.9% |
| Low fat | 3 g fat or less | 3,876 | 89.4% |
The pattern is reassuring. Where a word has a number, the panel data lines up with it in roughly nine cases out of ten or better.
The products that fell short are not evidence of a labeling problem, and we would not read them that way. Many are cases where the word describes one part of the product, such as a nonfat yogurt sold with a granola topping. Others reflect the limits of this method, which are covered further down. If you'd like more on how claim language works on the front of the box, our guide to the claims food brands put on their labels walks through more examples.
Fresh has a definition. When the word suggests a food is unprocessed, it means raw, never frozen and never heat treated. The rule steps back when the word clearly means something else, which is why "bakery fresh" and "fresh mozzarella" account for most of the 4,587 matches.
Diet has one too. A food can carry the word only if it also qualifies as low calorie or reduced calorie. Soda makes up 63% of the products described this way.
Antioxidant is a regulated nutrient claim. The label has to name the nutrients involved, and each one needs to reach at least 10% of the Daily Value.
Healthy is the one term on this list that has been rewritten recently, and the details matter because packages on the shelf today may reflect either version.
FDA published the final rule updating the definition on December 27, 2024. Its dates section reads: "This rule is effective February 25, 2025. The compliance date of this final rule is February 25, 2028." A second notice, published on February 25, 2025, delayed the effective date to April 28, 2025. That notice did not move the compliance date, and we found no later action that did.
Under the current regulation text, a food qualifies in two steps. First, it needs to contain a set amount from at least one food group: half a cup of vegetables or fruit, three-quarters of an ounce of whole grains, two-thirds of a cup of dairy, or 1 to 1.5 ounces of a protein food. Second, it has to stay within limits for three nutrients, and the limits shift by food group.
Single-ingredient vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean meats, seafood, eggs, beans, nuts and seeds qualify automatically. So do water, tea and coffee with fewer than 5 calories. As FDA explains in its summary of the change, foods such as avocados, nuts, salmon and olive oil now fit the definition, while fortified white bread and highly sweetened yogurt and cereal do not.
We did not score healthy against the new criteria. Food group amounts are not printed on a nutrition panel, so there is no fair way to do it from label data alone. What the panels do show is sodium: among 459 products with the word in their description, the median was 100 mg per serving, and 72.5% came in at or under the 230 mg limit.
Four terms sit in between. An agency has said something about each one, but not enough to give you a number to check.
Natural is the best-known example. FDA says plainly that it has not written a formal definition. What it has is a long-standing informal policy: the agency has considered natural to mean that "nothing artificial or synthetic (including all color additives regardless of source) has been included in, or has been added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in that food." The same page notes what the policy leaves out. It was not meant to address farming methods such as pesticide use, or processing methods such as pasteurization. FDA asked the public for comments on the term in 2015, the comment period closed on May 10, 2016, and no regulation followed.
Meat and poultry follow a different agency. USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service describes natural on those labels as a product "containing no artificial ingredient or added color" that is "only minimally processed."
Neither version covers sugar, sodium, fat or calories. Among natural-described products that declare added sugars, 52% showed none, and 18% showed 10 g or more per serving. The word is about what was added, not about the nutrition panel.
Whole grain rests on a draft guidance from February 2006 that is still marked as non-binding. It describes what counts as a whole grain and suggests that "100 percent whole grain" products contain no other grain ingredients. It sets no minimum for a product that simply says "whole grain." In the data, the first ingredient contained the word "whole" in 59% of whole grain products. For multigrain, a word with no definition at all, the figure was 31%.
Unsweetened is permitted as a factual statement on foods that carry plenty of sugar of their own, such as juice. That explains its split personality in the data: 98% of these products showed 0 g of added sugars, yet a quarter of them had 10 g or more of total sugars per serving.
Omega-3 has levels for one fatty acid and a restriction on two others. Claims are allowed for ALA at 320 mg ("high") and 160 mg ("good source"). "High in" claims for DHA and EPA are not permitted, though a plain amount such as "32 mg DHA" is.
If you're curious how much a product itself can change while the name on the front stays the same, our comparison of 1970s supermarket staples and their 2020s reformulations is a good companion read.
Fifteen of the 40 terms have no federal definition. We did not want to take that on faith, so we ran each word through a full-text search of FDA's food labeling regulations. Keto, ketogenic, superfood, probiotic, multigrain, plant-based, vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, wholesome, paleo, "gut health," "net carbs" and "low carb" returned zero matching sections. "Clean" and "simple" turned up only in unrelated senses.
One rule still applies to all of them. Under the misbranding section of federal food law, a food's labeling may not be "false or misleading in any particular." That is the general standard for every word on a package, defined or not.
With no threshold to test, the useful question becomes what products carrying each word actually contain.
Keto is a diet name, and nothing in the regulations ties it to a carbohydrate figure. "Net carbs" is not defined either. For this check we calculated it the way packages usually do: total carbohydrate minus fiber, minus sugar alcohols where the record lists them.
Across 729 products with usable data, the median was 3.1 g of net carbohydrate per serving. The middle half ran from 2 g to 5 g. About 72% came in at 5 g or less, and 5% had 10 g or more. Total carbohydrate told a wider story, with a median of 10 g and a middle range of 6 g to 14 g. Snack bars were the largest category, followed by nut snacks, chocolate and bread.
So the word clusters, but it does not guarantee. Two products described as keto can differ fivefold on the one number the word seems to be about. Diet names come and go on packaging, a pattern we traced in the rise and fall of every major diet since 1950.
Clean has no agreed meaning, so we looked at the two things the word most often seems to promise: little added sugar and a short ingredient list. Of the 73 clean-described products that declare added sugars, only 8% showed none. The median was 4 g per serving and the highest was 14 g. The median ingredient list had 11 items. This is a small group of products, mostly bars, drinks and breads, so these figures are a sketch rather than a firm finding.
Only 35 products carried gut-friendly, gut health or digestive health in their description, which makes this the smallest sample here. Fiber is the nutrient the phrase most often points to. The median was 5 g per serving, the middle half ran from 1 g to 7 g, and about a quarter of the products had less than 1 g.
A few of the other results are worth a closer look.
A few limits shape how far these numbers can be taken, and they are worth knowing before you rely on them.
The label data is supplied by manufacturers, not measured in a lab. In USDA's documentation for the branded database, data providers are described as "responsible for descriptions, nutrient data, serving size, and ingredient information," and values may differ from lab results "because of label rounding."
The records also lag the shelf. In the April 2026 release, the typical product record was published in April 2022. About 45% date from 2021, and fewer than 3% from 2025 or 2026. A product may have been reformulated or relabeled since.
Three more points apply to the threshold check in particular.
None of this lets anyone conclude that a specific product breaks a rule, and that was never the aim. What the data does well is show the shape of each word across hundreds or thousands of products.
Once the terms are sorted, a few patterns may make the next grocery trip feel lighter.
Words built from free, low, high, reduced and light are measured claims. They mean something specific, and the panel data suggests products generally deliver on them. If one of those words matches what you're looking for, it is a reasonable shortcut.
Comparison words are worth a second glance, because they are measured against another product rather than against a fixed line. Reduced sodium and low sodium can sit hundreds of milligrams apart.
Words such as keto, clean, gut-friendly, superfood and wholesome carry no number. That doesn't make a product a poor choice. It means the word can't answer your question, and the nutrition panel and ingredient list can.
One quick way to use the table: when a front-of-pack word falls in the undefined bin, think of the one number you assume it stands for, such as net carbs for keto or added sugars for clean, and look for that line on the panel.
You don't need to memorize 40 definitions. Knowing which bin a word belongs to is enough to tell you where to look next.
About the Author
Angela Nightingale is a Senior Editor at Daily Vitality with over two decades of experience in digital publishing and health and wellness content. She specializes in turning complex, often-confusing health topics into clear, calm, and practical guidance that respects the reader's intelligence. Her work focuses on helping people feel informed and confident — never overwhelmed or alarmed — as they make everyday decisions about how they eat, move, rest, and age.
No. The word does not appear in FDA's food labeling regulations, and no carbohydrate limit is attached to it. In the label data we checked, products described as keto had a median of about 3 g of net carbohydrate per serving, with 5% at 10 g or more.
No. Net carbs is a calculation that brands perform themselves, usually total carbohydrate minus fiber and sugar alcohols. The Nutrition Facts panel lists total carbohydrate, fiber and sugars, so the pieces of that calculation are there to check.
Sugar free means less than 0.5 g of sugars per serving. No sugar added means no sugar or sugar-containing ingredient went in during processing, though the food may be naturally high in sugar. Unsweetened is allowed as a factual statement with no number attached. Total sugars in the no sugar added group had a median of 6 g per serving.
Not in FDA's food labeling regulations, where the phrase does not appear. A separate USDA standard requires disclosure of bioengineered foods, which is a different statement from a voluntary non-GMO claim. Non-GMO appeared in only 45 product descriptions in our data, so it fell short of the 40-term list.
The updated definition took effect on April 28, 2025, and the published compliance date is February 25, 2028. Packages produced before that date may reflect the earlier criteria.
No. The organic standard covers how ingredients are produced and what share of the product is organic. Among organic-described products that declare added sugars, 18% had 10 g or more per serving.
The word has no definition in FDA's food labeling regulations, so there is no required amount or type of live cultures behind it. Our guide to postbiotics, probiotics and prebiotics explains how the three terms differ.
No. Federal law bars food labeling that is false or misleading in any particular, and that standard covers every statement on a package. What an undefined word lacks is a specific threshold a shopper can check it against.
At 89.4%, low fat had the lowest match rate of the nine terms tested. More than half of the products that fell outside the 3 g figure are yogurts, with milk drinks and frozen desserts making up most of the rest. In those foods the word may be part of a traditional product name, may describe one component, or the labeled serving may differ from the reference amount the rule uses.
