Words commonly used to praise or damn specific foods—words such as “fresh,” “natural,” and “processed”—mean different things to different people. They can be defined in two different ways by answering these two quite different questions: 

1) What do they mean to the U.S. governmental agencies that oversee our food supply?  

2) What does the average consumer think these words mean?

Do you understand everything the news media toss at you?  Keeping your vocabulary current is a challenge since new concepts continuously lead to the creation of new language.  Vocabulary related to food may involve words totally new to you. Often, they're from the language and cuisine of other countries.  But sometimes we hear familiar words used in new ways and common words combined into phrases that are confusing. Context may give us a vague idea of the meaning but not a precise one. Below is some clarification of the following: "health halo effect", "functional food," "food desert," "food insecurity," "traceability" and "sustainable/renewable resources."