Here's what 9 commonly misunderstood food labels actually mean

• Preserve natural resources and biodiversity
• Support animal health and welfare
• Provide access to the outdoors so that animals can exercise their natural behaviors
• Only use approved materials
• Do not use genetically modified ingredients
• Receive annual onsite inspections
• Separate organic food from non-organic food

What To Watch Out For: The USDA Organic mark is a round badge that can either be black or green, and is usually displayed prominently on the front of a label.

3. Cage-Free & Free-Range

What It Means:This is an example of a label that can get a bit tricky. These labels are for poultry only, and all the producers have to show for “free-range” classification is that the birds have access to the outside world (rather than being cooped up in batteries), to do what’s called natural behaviors, like nesting. But that’s where the regulation stops: you don’t have to prove they actually do go outside, or what’s out there.

And “cage-free” just means that the chickens are raised inside barns and not cages; it doesn’t guarantee that they’ll have any way to go outside, and it also allows for arguably cruelpractices like de-beaking.

What To Watch Out For:Note the difference in wording — free range, free-roaming, with natural light, pastured — and be careful to understand the conditions each one requires; research different brands’ records on chicken welfare.

4. Food Alliance Certified

What It Means: A Food Alliance sticker means that the food has been sustainably produced according to the standards of the Food Alliance’s strict certification measures. It’s a North American non-profit organization that covers all kinds of “sustainable” farming practices, from conservation to recycling and humane treatment of animals.

The Food Alliance does a lot of things that the USDA’s organic certification does, in other words — with the notable exception that they’re careful to mention they only make farmers “reduce use of pesticides and other toxic or hazardous materials,” not wipe them out altogether. Before you throw them out of the shopping cart, though, this can be a more realistic approach than a blanket ban.

What To Watch Out For:Most Food Alliance certified products are found on the West Coast of the U.S.; the Alliance provides a handy map of places to find certified agriculture.

5. Certified Humane Raised And Handled

What It Means:“Certified Humane” is another label produced by an independent operation: the Humane Farm Animal Care organization, which prioritizes what it calls “kinder and more responsible farm animal practices” on the animals we eat, from cows to chickens.

A Certified Humane sticker means a pretty comprehensive standard’s been met — the HFAC’s requirements go from birth to slaughter for every animal on a farm, and include food (which can’t have growth hormones), space, and general life standards. Temple Grandin, the famous activist and advisor on animal behavior, is a member of its scientific committee. 

What To Watch Out For:Be careful about the word “humane” more generally; in 2014 the chicken company Perdue was successfully sued for misleading packagingfor putting “humanely raised” on its chicken products. The Animal Welfare Approved sticker is a good alternative to Certified Humane if you catch sight of it.  

6. Wild-Caught

What It Means:This label, for fish, has been a bit of a scandal. Wild-caught fish are ones caught out in the open ocean, depleting natural populations, while farmed fish are raised by humans. “Wild-caught” ones are more expensive and often healthier, because they’ve lived in natural conditions. However, even though the FDA has a standard that says you have to declare which fish is which, in practice few do — in 2006 a survey found that 50 percent of all salmon sold in supermarkets under the “wild-caught” label was probably farmed. 

This appears to be part of a wider problem; a 2011 study by Consumer Report discovered that a whopping 20 percent of fish bought were incorrectly labelled. So take your seafood labels with a large pinch of sea salt.

What To Watch Out For: If you’re buying fish from a market, try to get somebody who can tell you accurately where it came from; stuff in cans or packages is more likely to have been mislabelled. Also look for the Marine Stewardship Council’s sticker for seafood that has been certified as sustainable. 

What It Means: Pesticides are an interesting one in food labeling law. Remember, the USDA’s Organic label allows some pesticides — because  natural ones are allowed. As advocates have pointed out, organic pesticides exist, it’s just necessary to use larger amounts to get them to work. And pesticides in general are necessary for the high yields and sanitary conditions of much of today’s food.

7. Certified Pesticide Residue Free

If you’re still tempted to run for the hills when the word’s mentioned, however, the Certified Pesticide Residue Free label is the only one that guarantees a more or less complete lack of pesticides on your produce, as determined by laboratory testing. 

What To Watch Out For: If you’re concerned about pesticides, note that “pesticide-free” labels don’t have any legal obligation to be absolutely accurate or to discuss percentages and leftover residue, so enquire more thoroughly. 

8. Radura Symbol

What It Means: Since 1986, the FDA has required that any food treated by irradiation — a widely practiced use of radiation to preserve food, kill pests, and delay ripening — must be marked with the Radura symbol, which looks a little like a sprouting plant. Irradiation in the U.S. is allowed on some products to avoid common problems with germs or insects, like wheat flour, dried herbs, and spices, frozen red meat, and pork. 

The Radura doesn’t mean that the meat or herbs are now radioactive, though. That’s a common misconception that has led to the Radura being seen as a warning flag; irradiated foods are perfectly healthy. The Radura also doesn’t have to be applied to processed food that has been irradiated along the way. 

What To Watch Out For: All food that’s been irradiated will have a little blurb in text mentioning the fact alongside the Radura, so it’ll be obvious what it means if you’re confused by the symbol. 

9. Grass Fed

What It Means: If you’re a meat-eater, you probably associate grass-fed meat with the best of the best — but the label doesn’t tell the whole story. The idyllic image of cows grazing purely on the best and lushest grass while frolicking in the pasture isn’t quite correct; while the FDA’s standard for grass-fed labels mean that the cow, sheep, or goat has to have been fed fresh grass all of its life, it doesn’t have to have done it outside. 

The FDA itself records this. “Although consumers are likely to associate the term “grass fed” with the concept of free roaming or pasture raised livestock,” it said in a report on farm animal welfare, “under the current definition, ‘grass fed’ means considerably less in terms of animal welfare.” 

What To Watch Out For: The American Grass-fed Association has its own stricter certification of grass-fed meat, so if it’s something you feel strongly about, their label is the one to watch for.