Unhealthy Companies Behind Some Health Foods

by Vic Shayne, PhD

The picture to the right is so colorful I just want to dance in a rainbow in FunLand! Sure, that’s the point. Attractive packaging is a smoke screen for what’s inside the box! And now, the folks that bring you the worst in junk food are taking over organic companies. Buyer beware.

For the past twenty years I’ve been eating healthful foods. The best foods are those that are fresh and natural, like seeds, nuts, fruits, some meats, and, of course, vegetables. When I started out, there was a strong rise in natural foods that were packaged, such as cereal, crackers, cookies, breads, yogurt and so forth. These natural foods were great alternatives to the typical processed foods offered through big coporations such as General Mills or Dean or Tyson Foods. Why? First, because the latter obviously do not care about your health. It’s obvious because they load their products with artificial ingredients and sugars, as well as carcinogenic (cancer-causing) junk food, flavorings and preservatives. They also don’t mind putting pesticides in your foods.

Consumer Reports suggests, “Consumer spending on organic has grown so much that we’ve attracted big players who want to bend the rules so that they can brand their products as organic without incurring the expenses involved in truly living up to organic standards,” says Ronnie Cummins, national director, Organic Consumers Association..

Nowadays, the old staples of organic and natural packaged foods are being bought up by the giant corporations who bring you such sickening nonfoods as Coco Crispies, Jell-O, Coke, Pepsi and other junk food. Recently, Dr. Mercola’s website published an update:

Tom’s of Maine is owned by Colgate-Palmolive, a massive company with a revenue of approximately $11.4 billion. Danone, the French conglomerate which also owns Brown Cow, has acquired a majority holding in Stoneyfield — the same Danone that had to recall large quantities of its yogurt in 2007 after it was found to contain unsafe levels of dioxins. Horizon Organic milk was bought out by the largest dairy company in the U.S., Dean Foods, in 2005.

Odwalla is now owned by Coca-Cola. Almost as soon as Coca-Cola bought the company, it stopped selling the fresh-squeezed OJ that had made Odwalla famous and popular — fresh squeezed can’t last the days and weeks the juices are now in transit or on the shelf. Pepsi bought Naked Juice in 2006, in order to compete with Odwalla. Smuckers grabbed several juice mainstays from the health food store shelves: After The Fall, R.W. Knudsen and Santa Cruz Organic.

Kashi cereals was bought in July 2000 by Kellogg’s, the 12th-largest company in North American food sales (but if you look at a box of Kashi’s “Go Lean Crunch”, for example, you will find not one mention of the fact that Kellogg’s owns them.) Kraft Foods bought the natural cereal maker Back to Nature. Kraft is a subsidiary of Altria, which also owns Philip Morris, one of the world’s largest producers of cigarettes.

General Mills owns Cascadian Farm. Barbara’s Bakery is owned by Weetabix, the leading British cereal company. Health Valley and Arrowhead Mills are owned by Hain Celestial Group, a natural food company traded on the NASDAQ, with H.J. Heinz owning 16 percent of the company.

Green and Black’s organic chocolate was taken over in 2005 by Schweppes, the 10th-largest company in North American packaged-food sales. Dagoba Chocolate is actually owned by Hershey Foods.

Consumer Reports writes: “Critics argue that we’re wasting our money because there’s no proof that conventially produced foods pose significant health risks. Now, however, there are many new reasons to buy organic. First, a growing body of research shows that pesticides and other contaminants are more prevalent in the foods we eat, in our bodies, and in the environment than we thought. And studies show that by eating organic foods, you can reduce your exposure to the potential health risks associated with those chemicals.”