Decoding labels: What does ‘regenerative’ really mean?

There’s a new word popping up on everything from cereal and eggs to dairy and meat: “regenerative.” It may sound like a guarantee that your food was produced in a way that improves the land, but Consumer Reports says that’s not necessarily the case—even when the product comes with a higher price tag.Farmer Grant Breitkreutz says the rich soil on his Stoney Creek Farm is evidence that certain farming practices can rebuild the land rather than deplete it. He says soil on the farm that traditionally would have been expected to take hundreds or even thousands of years to develop has been built up significantly over the past 15 years.The approach is often called regenerative agriculture, and the term is showing up more frequently in government discussions and on food packaging from major brands. But Consumer Reports science reporter Kevin Loria says shoppers need to know that “regenerative” on a food label doesn’t necessarily guarantee anything because there is no legal definition or govern