That natural-looking sliced turkey you buy from the grocery store may not actually be very “natural.”

The Associated Press reports that fast and processed food makers have been trying their hardest to make products look “imperfect” in an attempt to convince consumers that they’re just as natural or fresh as a home-cooked meal. For instance, McDonald’s makes the eggs in its “Egg White Delight McMuffin” look sloppy and uneven — unlike the eggs in regular McMuffins, which tend to resemble hockey pucks.

Food makers use these disingenuous tactics knowing that consumers equate “imperfect” with “natural.” As Michele Simon, a public health lawyer, told the Associated Press, “They can’t change the fact that they’re making processed products so they have to use these other tricks to pretend.”

Kraft Foods went so far as to spend two years perfecting a chopping machine that cuts the company’s “Carving Board” line processed turkey portions in uneven slabs, instead of perfect slices, to replicate leftovers from a home-cooked meal.

These foods are not the same as their fresher and more natural counterparts. Fast and processed foods typically contain ingredients meant to preserve them, such as hydrogenated oils, brominated vegetable oils, artificial sweeteners, salt, and sulfites — many of which can lead to negative health consequences including heart disease and cancer.

Food makers have consistently used smokescreens to deceive customers into thinking their products are healthy. Panda Express, Taco Bell, and Burger King have all employed deceptive marketing techniques that make their menu items seem healthier than they actually are. For instance, Burger King’s “game-changing” turkey burger option still weighs in at 530 calories. McDonald’s “McWrap” uses green packaging to play on customers’ perception of healthy foods — even though some versions of that wrap still contain over 600 calories.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday sharply criticized the food industry’s decision to market its unhealthy products to children, saying that strategy has been “disastrously effective” at fueling the global obesity epidemic. The United Nations health agency called for tighter regulation in this area to prevent corporations from advertising fatty, salty, and calorie-heavy foods to kids.

In a new report on food marketing, WHO Europe points out that even though junk food has been linked to obesity-related health issues, companies use new technology to target these kind of products to kids. “Children are surrounded by ads urging them to consume high-fat, high-sugar, high-salt foods, even when they are in places where they should be protected, such as schools and sports facilities,” Zsuzsanna Jakab, the director of the WHO’s regional unit for Europe, explained.

WHO tracked advertising for sugary drinks, sweetened breakfast cereals, cookies, candy, snacks, and fast food outlets. The agency found that television is still the most common medium for these ads, and notes that children are especially vulnerable to that strategy because they cannot always distinguish between advertisements and cartoons like adults can. WHO explains that, since food corporations know how to exploit children’s interests by using their favorite cartoon characters to market their products, kids are “particularly receptive and vulnerable to messages that lead to unhealthy choices.”

Most of WHO’s European member nations have already signed a pledge to prevent food companies from marketing to kids, but the United Nations agency believes there need to be more specific, comprehensive guidelines to make the effort successful. The WHO report points out that this is a crucial part of combating childhood obesity.

Here in the United States, a staggering 80 percent of teens are on their way to developing heart diseases because their diets are too high in salt, sugar, and fat. Nevertheless, the FDA has lagged behind when it comes to cracking down on food and beverage companies’ advertising practices. Fast food companies continue to aggressively market their products to children, particularly low-income children of color.

Some companies have pledged to take it upon themselves to stop marketing junk food to kids. Walt Disney Co, for example, has decided it will no longer accept these kind of advertisements on its television, radio, and online programs. But some of the biggest culprits, like McDonald’s, won’t admit they have an advertising strategy that relies on selling unhealthy products to children. “We don’t sell junk food,” McDonald’s CEO claimed just last month, when he was confronted by a nine-year-old girl who asked him why he continued to market fast food to kids like her.

The Kellogg Company has agreed to pay $4 million dollars to settle a class action lawsuit over a misleading advertising campaign for its popular Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal. In 2008 and 2009, Kellogg’s claimed that Mini-Wheats could improve kids’ attentiveness, memory, and other cognitive functions — even though the sugary cereal doesn’t actually have any of those positive effects.

In 2009, the food corporation claimed that Mini-Wheats were “clinically shown to improve kids’ attentiveness by 11 percent.” That caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which filed a suit against Kellogg’s to prevent it from continuing to advertise misleading claims. “We tell consumers that they should deal with trusted national brands,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a 2009 statement. “So it’s especially important that America’s leading companies are more ‘attentive’ to the truthfulness of their ads and don’t exaggerate the results of tests or research.”

The cereal maker stopped using those ads, but the legal process still took several years to resolve. Now, Kellogg’s will pay $4 million into a fund that will be used to compensate Americans who submit a claims form. The people who bought a box of Frosted Mini-Wheats between 2008 and 2009 may be eligible to receive $5 in compensation for up to three boxes, for a total of $15.

While $15 may not seem like much, the class action lawyer representing the parents who filed suit against Kellogg’s explained to NPR that it’s a small way of challenging corporate power. “The concept behind class actions is that you take a bunch of individual small claims and you aggregate them,” Tim Blood said in reference to the relatively small pay-outs. ” And that has the effect of leveling the playing field, so that collectively all of the consumers can band together against wealthy corporations who engage in wrongdoing.”

Of course, many parents may have never believed that the sugary cereal would actually help their kids focus better. But some may have: in order to successfully win this type of lawsuit, lawyers must prove that a “reasonable consumer” could be deceived by the false advertising. Some people may have assumed that the “clinical trials” that Kellogg’s referenced provided evidence that Frosted Mini-Wheats could be a helpful addition to their hyperactive children’s ADHD medication.

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Two global meat giants with shady food safety histories are planning to merge in hopes of becoming the most powerful meat producer in the world. Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the U.S., has been bought by China’s Shuanghui International Holdings Limited for $4.7 billion. If deal is cleared by Smithfield shareholders and the U.S. government, the global meat industry, controlled by just a handful of companies, will become even less competitive than it already is.

With one giant conglomeration controlling most of the meat market, food safety standards may drop to even more abysmal depths. Neither Smithfield nor Shuanghui have shown much interest in reforming their production practices, even after sickening thousands. In 2011, a Shuanghui plant was caught feeding their pigs an illegal additive, clenbuterol, to speed muscle growth. Five people were charged with harsh criminal sentences and dozens of others were punished. A month after the discovery, nearly 300 people fell violently ill from eating clenbuterol-tainted pork.

Smithfield, meanwhile, routinely abuses animals, employees, food safety, and the environment. In 1997, two slaughterhouses owned by the company were found guilty of dumping waste in a major Virginia river. Smithfield was fined $12.6 million for nearly 7,000 violations of the Clean Water Act — but that didn’t stop them from cutting dangerous corners in other areas. Millions of gallons of waste from Smithfield factories is dumped in enormous lagoons that easily overflow and have contaminated rivers. In 2010, a Humane Society video exposed horrific conditions inside a Smithfield factory. The company pledged to reform their practices within ten years, but it has yet to be determined if Smithfield will keep the promise now that they have been sold to Shuanghui.

The merger could also mean Smithfield’s factory farms will expand even more aggressively to keep up with new demand. Though Americans are stereotyped as ravenous meat-lovers, pork consumption in China dwarfs that in the U.S. by a staggering 41.6 million tons a year. China’s pork production has shot up dramatically in the past few decades and now comprises half the pork in the entire world:

On the other side of the globe, Americans are eating less pork — and less meat in general. The new, intensive demand from China will likely bolster and expand the factory farming operations that might have declined if Americans continue to trend away from industrial pork.

Wondering how much fat is in that burrito? Google wants to make it a little easier to find out.

The search giant announced that beginning Thursday, consumers will have easier access to “extensive nutrition information” for more than 1,000 common foods. The list includes basics such as meats and vegetables, and even not-so-basics like chow mein.

On one of its official blogs, Google posted some examples of what the detailed search results will look like once the feature is fully implemented:

The company also explained that, over time, it would be “adding more features, foods, and languages” to the service. The current iteration is voice command-compatible and even displays a drop down menu that includes foods similar to what a user searches for.

This isn’t the first time that Google has modified its core services in an effort to promote public health. Google searches related to suicide automatically bring up the national suicide hotline, and activists have been urging Google to implement a similar policy for searches about eating disorders.

Studies have shown that having more knowledge about foods’ nutritional content corresponds with lower obesity rates.

Last week, a 9-year-old girl asked McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson why his company continues to market junk food to kids. Thompson assured her that McDonald’s doesn’t sell junk food, pointing out that the chain also offers some healthy options like salads. But that may not be true for long.

At an investor conference on Wednesday, Thompson noted that the chain is struggling to convince customers to choose its “healthier” options, like Bacon Ranch and Southwest Chicken salads. Altogether, salads make up only 2 to 3 percent of McDonald’s sales in the United States. “I don’t see salads as being a major growth driver in the near future,” Thompson admitted.

The fast food chain is considering scaling back its advertising focused on salads. Thompson suggested that McDonald’s advertising strategy should instead be focused traditional meat products, like hamburgers and chicken sandwiches. As Bloomberg News reports, Thompson pointed to “other ways” to sell fruits and veggies, like pointing to the tomatoes, cucumber slices, and shredded lettuce in the new McWraps.

McDonald’s introduced its McWrap specifically in an attempt to appeal to young customers who are looking for more nutritious options. The new wraps play on public perceptions of healthy food, but they’re not actually that much better than McDonald’s other fare. The Crispy Chicken & Bacon McWrap, for example, actually contains more calories than Quarter Pounder with bacon and cheese.

McDonald’s has already dropped Fruit & Walnut salads from its menu, and it’s also considered getting rid of the Caesar salad. More salad products may get the axe if sales don’t improve. On the other hand, Thompson noted that McDonald’s Dollar Menu is still extremely successful, generating 13 to 14 percent of its total sales. That’s perhaps part of a larger trend in which access to healthy food is divided along socioeconomic lines. Poorer Americans often live in areas where they aren’t close to grocery stories with high-quality food, and can’t afford the transportation to get there — and fast food restaurants have traditionally exacerbated that dynamic by marketing their cheap, unhealthy food in low-income areas.

Over the weekend, protesters marched in 436 cities in 52 countries to protest the biotech giant Monsanto Company’s tightening grip on the global seed market. As hundreds of thousands of people rallied against a range of issues, including Monsanto’s treatment of farmers, the much-publicized Monsanto Protection Act, and the ubiquity of genetically modified ingredients, one overriding concern became clear: how people can identify, let alone avoid, Monsanto products.

Outside of Connecticut and Vermont, GMO labeling efforts have been trounced time and again in Congress, in state legislatures, and even on ballot initiatives. Though companies will not be legally required to disclose GMOs on a national scale anytime soon, the tech industry is rising to the challenge to help consumers find out for themselves. A slew of new mobile food trackers are proving that, as always, there’s an app for that.

One mobile app, Buycott, recently caused a stir among people looking to make more informed purchases. Buycott lets users scan a product before they purchase it to see its connections to companies with certain agendas. Users can sign on to campaigns to help them avoid the Koch Industries, Monsanto, companies that lobbied against GMO labeling, companies that contribute to the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and many more. There’s a wide range of right-wing causes, too — if they wish, users can support Koch Industries or companies that have pushed for looser gun laws. The app also lays out the network of corporations, exposing how seemingly unrelated companies are linked.

On Tuesday, Food Safety News highlighted a number of other apps dedicated to tracing food back to its source. HarvestMark has the most extensive database thus far, tracking five billion fresh food items (vegetables, fruits, and meat) from major companies like The Kroger Company, Driscoll’s Berries, and Coleman Natural, as well as international companies shipping food from China, Mexico and Taiwan. The app lets shoppers scan a product or type in a label to pull up a full profile of the farm it came from, how it was grown, and whether or not the farm has had any foodborne illness issues. The app has already helped limit foodborne illness outbreaks — during one recall, 15 percent of consumers who used HarvestMark discovered their leafy greens had been flagged for health risks.

Food companies are also sensing marketing opportunities in the push for greater transparency. One organic meat company, Applegate, has started using scannable labels called QR codes that let consumers watch videos about the farmer that raised their meat. Top 10 Produce, a tracing company, is working with small independent farms to help them promote their products via mobile technology. In Seattle, a shellfish company is rolling out QR codes to let customers know where each oyster they buy came from.

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