Panera to overhaul menu, ditch the fake stuff

Panera to overhaul menu, ditch the fake stuff: "The unveiling of Panera's sweeping "Food Policy" also underscores how positioning foods as natural has become a marketing advantage, regardless of whether it brings any nutritional benefits. Part of the attraction for customers is that they feel better about what they're eating, sometimes because they don't feel as guilty about how many calories they're consuming.

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Chipotle, for instance, has gained in popularity in part by portraying itself as a more wholesome alternative to traditional fast-food chains like McDonald's. Even Subway recently said it would stop using azodicarbonamide in its breads. The ingredient was dubbed the "yoga mat" chemical after a petition by Vani Hari, who runs FoodBabe.com, noted it was used to make yoga mats.

Still, declaring foods as being natural or free of artificial ingredients has the potential to invite criticism and even legal troubles. A lawsuit filed in November, for instance, alleges that Whole Foods Market uses a "spectacular array" of artificial ingredients in some of its store-brand products, despite the grocer's promise that the products contain "nothing artificial.""



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