A food trade group is stepping in to give meaning to the word “natural”. The Organic and Natural Health Association (ONHA) will roll out a certification program, beginning in early 2016, that will offer a “natural” seal that participating companies can put on the front of their product packaging.

The seal comes after years of criticisms and lawsuits against food manufacturers such as Welch’s for allegedly misleading consumers with ambiguous package labels that do not necessarily accurately reflect the food contained inside.

“It became clear to us that we just needed to define ‘natural’ as what it was,” ONHA CEO Karen Howard said. That’s because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates food labeling, “has not developed a definition for use of the term natural or its derivatives,” according to its own materials. The FDA also does not object to the use of the term on products with “added color, artificial flavors or synthetic substances.”

The seal would not be a government-approved package label, but rather a self-selecting way for manufacturers to help consumers better understand the contents and production of foods. The program would be voluntary and overseen by ONHA.

Howard said the need for a new labeling program was made clear after a National Marketing Institute survey of 1,005 consumers showed that 46% believed the government regulated the use of “natural” and approximately 50% believed “natural” meant free of pesticides and genetically modified organisms.

Many of these consumers are gravitating toward so-called natural products, with a 24% increase in sales of products labeled “natural” between 2012 and 2014, according to “We Are What We Eat,” a 2015 report from Nielsen.

The seal’s requirements will be stringent and in most cases will overlap with the requirements of organic foods. Under the seal, natural foods cannot contain artificial preservatives, colors, flavoring or sweeteners, and cannot be genetically modified. Nanotechnology and synthetically produced vitamins E and D will also not be allowed. Beef will be subject to the same standards as the requirements for organic labeling, but must go further and also be pastured and grass-fed.

Companies will have to pay a small fee for the seal and must pay to go through the compliance process themselves.

The creation of the seal comes just as a number of lawsuits head to court. One, filed in New York in September, accuses Welch’s of “deceptive practices in misrepresenting the fruit content and the nutritional and health qualities of Welch’s fruit snacks.” Until recently, the fruit snacks listed “juice from concentrates” as the main ingredient; now a variety of fruit purees are listed first and corn syrup is the second ingredient. The front packaging for the fruit snacks used to say: “Made With REAL Fruit.” Now it reads: “Made With More REAL Fruit.”