Ingredients of an All-Natural Banana

Nitrates aren't harmful in themselves - it's the Nitrosamines that they can produce under certain conditions, which are very definitely carcinogenic.

Probably not so bad these days, since there have been steps taken to reduce the amount of nitrosamine in all sorts of foodstuffs. There's a good overview at http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/f-w00/nitrosamine.html

Given most of the information there, it's possibly a good reason to avoid the hippie celery juice bacon (though I've never seen it in the stores), mainly because you don't know how much nitrate you're getting. But it's a little more complex than "Lol, hippies."

the potential harm associated with "nitrates" has been addressed by someone else, and with MSG specifically, some people simply have unpleasant reactions to it (though these results are difficult to reproduce clinically, they are listed at http://www.mayoclinic.org/monosodium-glutamate/expert-answer..., the desire to avoid the risk of these effects is quite rational) and there's additionally no reason a non-essential compound such as MSG needs to be used - using artificially-isolated compounds to modify one's neurologic reaction to food is a practice that a lot of us choose not to participate in, and we'd prefer the food is of enough quality to start with that such modification is not necessary in order for it to taste good. There is no "fear" that MSG is causing actual harm, only that it's a sign of an otherwise low-quality food product. Hence we appreciate when a product marks it as not included.

"I think what would be cool/interesting (and I'm guessing what cing meant to say) would be if there were a way to get that list (the scary-looking one, not the vitamins and minerals one) from some procedure done to a vegetable.'

It is currently not possible:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolomics#Metabolome

Found some papers on Google that try to find fractions of the metabolome -- in this one, the tomato:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1533921/

   The identification of compounds, in particular secondary
   metabolites, through a metabolomic profiling approach
   encounters some major difficulties. First, the number of
   commercially available standards of secondary metabolites
   reported to be present in a specific plant species or
   tissue is low. Second, in an automated online separation,
   PDA detection, MS measurement, and/or MS/MS fragmentation
   of mass signals, it is difficult to meet optimized levels
   for all eluting compounds. Due to overlapping compounds,
   low intensity mass signals, or difficulties in the
   isolation of the mass signal for MS/MS fragmentation,
   the extraction of usable information for identification
   purposes can be complicated. Third, the lack of dedicated
   software and databases that integrate spectroscopic and
   MS data limits the identification procedure to a manual
   level. Nevertheless, by these means 43 metabolites could be
   readily assigned in the tomato fruit extract (Tables III
   and IV), leaving more to be identified. The total number
   of compounds detectable by our LC-MS system is difficult
   to calculate due to the presence of mass signals from
   isotopes, adducts, and unintended in-source fragmentation.

I perceive certain cultivars as being less "natural" than harvested wild varieties. But you're right of course, that the selection process is in no way synthetic.

The several varieties of bananas that you'll see in the store are most definitely caused by human intervention (actively trying to cross slightly different plants to produce a new hybrid) and propagation. Normally hybrids die out in the wild.

Also, once you have a sterile hybrid, there's not much in the way of selection pressure. And since bananas are clones, there's nothing for the selection pressure to act on.

With no definition for "Not natural", you render the word "Natural" essentially meaningless- turning it into a "valid" adjective encompassing everything.

Which, for reasons that should be obvious, makes it problematic as a word for promoting certain types of food. Since humans are components of the ecosystem, twinkies are technically "natural", right?