UK Newspaper Cites OCA on Big Corporations Hijacking the Organic Movement

Rich Cookson and Andy Rowell on how the organic movement is being
hijacked by multinational companies

Wednesday November 12, 2003
The Guardian (London U.K.)

Last week, Britain's organic movement celebrated sales of organic food
exceeding £1bn for the first time, making the UK the world's third
biggest organic market behind the US and Germany.

But as the market grows, some of the country's best-known organic brands
are being bought up by multinationals that have built their success on
industrial-scale food production, and whose very ethos and modus
operandi are seen by some as the antipathy of organic agriculture.

In June this year, one of America's leading food and drink companies,
Dean Foods, announced that it was buying Britain's leading brand of
organic milk, Rachel's. The two firms could hardly be more different.

The family behind Rachel's are true organic pioneers - their family farm
was the first certified organic dairy farm in Britain, and the company
describes itself as "Britain's foremost organic dairy". Rachel's has
always promoted itself as a family firm.

By contrast, Dean Foods operates more than 120 plants in 36 US states
and in Spain and employs about 28,000 people. The company reported an
operating income in 2002 of $662.6m (£396m) and will take control of
Rachel's when it acquires its parent company, Horizon Organics, in a
$216m deal.

While Rachel's say they are "passionate about pure, natural and
nutritious food", Dean Foods has been criticised by the Organic
Consumers Association (OCA) in the US for its refusal to rule out the
controversial genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (BGH) in its
dairies. BGH has been linked to increased mastitis and health problems
in cows, as well as potential antibiotic build-up in humans. Although it
is currently banned by the EU, Dean says BGH is safe to use.

"Despite 10 years of pressure in the market place, Dean Foods has never
gone BGH free, whereas many conventional dairies have," says OCA's
national director Ronnie Cummins.

Rachel's say that because BGH is banned in the UK it is not an issue.
"We have yet to be acquired by Dean, but I have been led to be believe
that Dean wish for us to go on working as we have worked before. We will
remain absolutely true to our principles and roots," says Neil Burchell,
managing director of Rachel's.

Other high-profile UK brands that have been bought include Go-Organic,
which offers a range of soups, pasta sauces and curry sauces. The firm
is now owned by the Anglo-Dutch giant, Unilever. Seeds of Change,
sponsors of Channel 4's popular River Cottage series, are owned by
Masterfood which is part of Mars Inc. And Kallo Foods, which produces a
leading brand of organic rice cakes, is owned by Koninklijke Wessanen, a
Dutch multinational.

Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University, London, says:
"While some incorporation of organics into mainstream food markets is
inevitable, the organic movement must think about whether it is prepared
to see its brands and aspirations go that route. If it does so, it will
lead to further cynicism and loss of integrity".

What is happening here reflects what has already happened in the US,
where organic sales are nearly $10bn (£6bn). Over the past four years,
companies such as General Mills, French food giant Danone, Heinz, Kraft
(owned by the tobacco company Philip Morris), Kelloggs and Nestlé, have
all bought organic or health food companies.

Activists such as Cummins argue that the big retailers and producers,
who are beginning to control the market, are driving down the prices
paid to farmers. This is bad news for organic farmers and, ultimately,
consumers. Organic food sold at farmers' markets, farm shops and box
schemes represents only a tenth of all organic food sold, whereas
supermarkets control more than 80%.

"On the whole, box schemes are less travelled, less packaged, fresher
and, hopefully, taste better than the organic veg you get in a
supermarket", says Guy Watson, who runs Riverford Farm, south Devon,
whose award-winning box scheme supplies 8,000 customers a week. "Those
are the values that most people want to support. In contrast,
supermarkets have ridden on the back of the cosy image of organics. But
the consumer is wising up to the fact that supermarkets deliver over-
travelled, over-packaged and anonymous food, and that's not what people
want. Airfreighting beans from Kenya isn't going to save the world."