Who Owns Who?

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Recently, AltHealthWorks.com came out with the article, "Class Action Lawsuit Alleges 29 of 46 Ingredients in This Baby Formula Are Not "Organic" After All." In the article, they go on to report that Similac, a popular baby formula company mislead and flat out lied about it's organic baby formula. Similac's organic infant formula is certified USDA organic, yet the class action lawsuit claims that 26 of the 29 ingredients are not allowed to be in organic food. After reading this article, some people will probably be outraged thinking "I can't believe this, why would they lie about their ingredients?" To that I have to say, "Should you really be that surprised?"

If you take a look at Similac's other baby formulas, you will find ingredients such as soy milk from GMO soy, non fat milk from hormone and antibiotic injected cows and a whole slew of vitamins and minerals from cheap synthetic sources. If they make those formulas for babies, that tells me that they don't really care about the quality of ingredients that go into their formulas. So, how am I or anyone else really supposed to trust that their "Organic" counterparts are really organic? Did they suddenly have a change of heart, but just enough to produce one organic line? Or did they just slap a sticker on their that says USDA Organic, put whatever they want in the ingredients and decide to deal with consequences as they come? I mean to a multimillion dollar company, a $5 million dollar lawsuit is just chump change compared to the millions they made selling the organic line in the first place.

So, what does this all mean? Who can we trust? Is it all a lie? There are some pretty great and honest companies out there, but not as many as you think. A lot of your favorite organic companies out there are owned by larger conventional corporations. Annie's Organics is owned by General Mill's, Alexia is owned by ConAgra foods, Knudsen's and Santa Cruz juices are owned by Smuckers. The big question is "Why would a company like General Mill's produce hundreds of different food products that contain terrible synthetic and toxic ingredients, then turn around and start organic food companies with organic and non-gmo ingredients?" Why would they want to start producing ethically good food products when they are still producing the crap food too? Can we really trust that their ingredients are what they really say?

Now, just to clarify, I am not saying that all of these types of companies are lying about their ingredients. I am sure that their are some organic companies that are owned by larger conventional conglomerates that really are truthful about their organic ingredients, I'm just willing to bet it's not very many. Currently, organic food companies such as Alexia, R.W. Knudsens, Muir Glen, Larabar, Naked Juice and Cascadian Farms are all fighting against GMO labeling laws (all of those companies are owned by larger conventional conglomerates). All of those companies are labeled USDA organic, so what have they got to hide? If they are really USDA Organic (which means it is also non gmo), then why are they fighting it? These are good questions that I can not answer, but it is something that makes me wonder.

Now I personally try to avoid these types of organic companies as much as possible. Because I have to do what I can afford, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I never buy from these types of organic companies because it's not always financially feasable for me to do completely avoid them (The organic companies that are owned by larger conglomerates are often times cheaper than the independent organic companies), but I try to avoid them as much as possible. I really try to vote with my dollars, which means if I am buying Annie's Organics than I am supporting General Mills, I am casting my vote that I want them to have my money. If you are against GMO's and the slew of herbacides that are destroying our earth but continue to buy from companies that practice these moethods of agriculture, then you really aren't standing up to them, you are handing them your dollars and casting your vote. All I want you to consider is where are your dollars really going? Again, I know you have to do what you can afford but even if you switch one small purchasing habit like buying Woodstock frozen fruit instead of Cascadian Farms, you are still helping and trying to make a conscious effort. In the end I think that if we were all a little more aware and a little more conscientious of where our dollars were really going, it could make a world of difference.