My lunch today
These were all the things I ate for lunch today. I researched the companies that made each product I consumed:
Silk soy milk
- parent company: Dean Foods.
- Silk has been a five year recipient of the Green Power Leadership Award from the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency
- In 2009 the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) called for a boycott of Silk brand products. The OCA reported that a portion of the soy beans used in Silk are sourced from countries with unacceptable labor and certification standards including Brazil and China. The OCA has called for boycotts of Horizon Organic brand milk, as well as other subsidiaries of Silk's distributor Dean Foods.[4]
- The official Silk web site reported in August 2009 that all its soy beans are sourced from North America including organic and non-GMO soybeans.[5]
- In the fall of 2009 the Pioneer Press reported that the Cornucopia Institute had made complaints to the U.S. Department of Agriculture accusing Silk producer Dean Foods and its WhiteWave Foods division, of shifting their products away from organics without properly notifying retailers or consumers.[6][7] According to the Star Telegram and other news sources, Silk brand soy milk was made using organic soybeans until early 2009 when Dean Foods switched to conventional soybeans while maintaining the same UPC barcodes and prices on the Silk products while replacing the word “organic” with “natural” on the Silk product packaging
- Conclusion: FIND ANOTHER PRODUCT
- parent company: Sara Lee
- Eco-Grain was developed by Horizon Milling, a joint venture between agribusiness giant Cargill Inc [CARG.UL] and farmer and rancher owned CHS Inc (CHSCP.O). It is grown using farming practices that reduce fertilizer and it requires less land than organic farming.
- The Eco-Grain, which comprises about a fifth of the grains in each loaf of bread, reduces the need for fertilizer because it is "precision farmed." However, in order to grow the grain for the bread, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides are still used and therefore it is still bad for the environment.
- Conclusion: FIND ANOTHER PRODUCT
- parent company: Ralcorp
- Unlike with the first two foods on my list, "grape nuts controversy" didn't have any hits on the first page of Google, which may or may not be a good sign. However, I'm not spending all night trying to dig up my cereal's dirty laundry. Not tonight, anyway!
- Conclusion: STICK WITH IT? (CHECK OUT THE ORGANIC VERSION.)
- Product seems to check out okay. Smuckers is a huge company with a lot of money, factories, employees, and influence, and surely their hands can't be clean. However, their "sins" are not so bad as to be extremely obvious with the smallest bit of research like Silk and Earth Grains. Again, I'm not spending all night tonight trying to dig up the dirt on my peanut butter.
- Conclusion: STICK WITH IT?
- both were purchased at the farmers' market in Montevallo in the parking lot behind Regions (the farmers' market will be here in mo-town every Monday from 3-6--check it out!). I believe the peach was from Clanton, and I don't know about the jelly (although I know it was homemade, I don't know what ingredients went into it).
- Conclusion: STICK WITH IT AND YAY FOR THE FARMERS' MARKET!
Other things I found out:Two cool sites where consumers review foods:
goodguide.com
sustainlane.com
During my research I discovered the Organic Consumers Association.
What they have to say for themselves: "[We are] an online and grassroots non-profit 501(c)3 public interest organization campaigning for health, justice, and sustainability. The OCA deals with crucial issues of food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, children's health, corporate accountability, Fair Trade, environmental sustainability and other key topics. We are the only organization in the US focused exclusively on promoting the views and interests of the nation's estimated 50 million organic and socially responsible consumers."
additional sources:
Wikipedia
reuters.com