Hi all,
As you may know, many organic food brands we know are now owned by large corporations that do not have sustainable and healthy foods at the core of their beliefs. You can see who owns the organic brands in the Organic Processing Industry Structure chart below (also attached), done by Philip Howard at Michigan State University. Nowhere on the packaging of these organic brands will you find their parent company listed so as to keep us uniformed. The chart just shows food related brand and corporate connections and of course on the personal care front, Colgate owns Tom's of Maine and Clorox owns Burt's Bees, to name a few. We are indeed fortunate to have Eden Foods in Michigan who has not sold out.

I knew this, but didn't think about until after the defeat of California Prop 37. The big companies who carry the organic brands (also natural brands, even though that label is meaningless) contributed oodles of money to defeat the labeling of GMO products in our food system. I copied a section from the Organic Consumers Association website so you can see which of corporations contributed funds totaling $45 million to ensure GMOs were not labeled. You may want to reconsider next time you are ready to toss one of their products into your cart. If you wish to learn more, the OCA website is www.organicconsumers.org

It makes more sense than ever to avoid these processed foods as much as possible and support local, organic growers. Be sure to pass the information on to others who would be interested in making informed decisions about who they are supporting with their food dollars.
To your health,
Holly

Organic Processing Industry Structure

Changes since June 2009 chart below include (1) Coca-Cola fully acquiring Honest Tea in March, 2011; (2) Nestle’s acquisitions of Cadbury (and Green & Black’s) in January, 2010, and Sweet Leaf Tea in May, 2011; (3) Sara Lee’s acquisition of Aidell’s Sausage for $87 million in May, 2011; (4) General Mills’ acquisition of Food Should Taste Good in February, 2012; and (5) Campbell Soup Co. acquisition of Bolthouse Farms for $1.55 billion in July, 2012.
PDF version of this chart is attached and also available at Organic Industry Structure: Top 30 Acquisitions

Boycott the Brands that Blocked Your Right to Know!

$45 Million in Lies and Dirty Tricks Killed Prop 37 - It's Payback Time!

Please sign the pledge below to let the following companies know you're joining the boycott. These companies make billions of dollars selling organic and "natural" brands, yet they spent millions to defeat Prop 37, CA Right to Know's ballot initiative to label genetically modified food. Click the hyperlinks to contact specific brands.

• PepsiCo (Donated $2.5M): Naked Juice, Tostito’s, Tropicana, Tazo, Loóza, Izze, Sabra, Smartfood, Stacy's, Mother's and Near East
• Kraft, recently became Mondelez (Donated $2M): Boca Burgers and Back to Nature
• Safeway (Member of Grocery Manufacturers Association, which donated $2M):“O” Organics
• Coca-Cola (Donated $1.7M): Honest Tea, Odwalla
• General Mills (Donated $1.2M): Muir Glen, Cascadian Farm, Larabar
• Con-Agra (Donated $1.2M): Orville Redenbacher’s Organic, Hunt’s Organic, Lightlife, Alexia
• Kellogg’s (Donated $791k): Kashi, Bear Naked, Morningstar Farms, Gardenburger
• Smucker’s (Donated $555k ): R.W. Knudsen, Santa Cruz Organic
• Unilever (Donated $467k): Ben & Jerry’s
• Dean Foods (Donated $254k): Horizon, Silk, White Wave