‘Natural’ label a marketing boon

The new-product spigot is once again producing “green” or “natural” items. Whether that means a lack of chemical-sounding ingredients, recycled content, nothing new or really nothing much at all depends on the product. In most cases the “natural” product is more expensive, but in some cases what might be introductory prices make that difficult to sort through. Here are a few such items:

Scott Naturals: a whole line of recycled-blend paper products, including toilet paper, paper towels and napkins, have from 40 to 80 percent recycled content. At one online retailer the eight-pack of 100-square-foot rolls of Scott’s regular paper towels is $8.99 and the Naturals version is $13.69 — 52 percent more.

Reynolds Wrap has introduced aluminum foil made from 100 percent recycled aluminum.

Hunt’s canned tomato products now carry a “100% natural” flag. “The Hunt’s Promise” on the label of a can of diced tomatoes notes that Hunt’s tomatoes are always 100 percent natural, with no artificial ingredients or preservatives. (The ingredients list includes citric acid and calcium chloride. Are they natural? Artificial? Neither? Both? A can of Del Monte diced tomatoes, with no “natural” claim, has the same ingredients.)

Sargento cheeses have increased the visibility of the word “Natural” on just about every variety, as has Kraft — which also dramatically changed the bags of most of its cheeses, including paper-look matte-finish plastic to make them seem more homey. The cheeses are unchanged.