UPDATE > The Organic Industry Chart > Who Owns Organic Brands?

 
Just Add Good Stuff recently published an article about how organic brands are being acquired by large conglomerate companies.  The original chart was published in 2002 and updated in June 2009 by Phil Howard, a respected professor of Agriculture at Michigan State University.  Since then, the Organic Food Industry Chart 2013 has been published.  And here are the scary findings.

 

As noted previously, many of today’s ‘organic brands’ are not independent.  On the contrary, our organic industry has been completely transformed through the acquisition of organic companies by larger conglomerates.  This is happening at a frightening pace and it’s surely not going to stop any time soon.  Here are the latest acquisitions of organic brands by conglomerates worldwide as outlined in the May 2013 Organic Food Industry Chart by Phil Howard.
 

 

PEPSI purchased Naked Juice in November 2006.

COCA-COLA purchased Odwalla in 2001 for $181 million and Honest Tea for $43 million (40% equity) in February 2008 and then full 100% equity in March 2011.

NESTLE purchased Sweet Leaf Tea in May 2011 and Tribe Mediterranean Foods for $57 million in September 2008 through the Israeli subsidiary Osern Group in which Nestle has 50.1% equity stake.

DEAN FOODS purchased Horizon Foods in July 1998 with 13% equity stake and 100% equity for $216 million in January 2004.  In April 1999, Horizon bought out The Organic Cow of Vermont (now under Dean Foods).  Also, Dean purchased Alta Dena in May 1999 and White Wave/Silk in May 2002 for $189 million in May 2013.

MONDELEZ (formerly a division of KRAFT) bought out Green & Black’s in January 2010 and Boca Foods in February 2000.  They also own 100% equity in Back to Nature in September 2003 but in August 2012 they sold a majority stake to Brynwood Partners.

PERDUE FARMS bought Coleman Natural (May 2011) which owns Petaluma/Rosie (January 2002), Hans (August 2003), Draper Valley Farms (August 2007).

DIAMOND FOODS bought Kettle in February 2010 for $615 million.

MILLER-COORS bought out Crispin in February 2012 which owns Fox Barrel (January 2010).

HILLSHIRE BRANDS (formerly Sara Lee) bought Aidell’s Sausage for $87 million in May 2011.

JAB/D.E. MASTER BLENDERS (formerly Sara Lee) bought Peet’s Coffee & Tea for $1 billion in August 2012 and Tea Forte in January 2012.

HERSHEY FOODS owns Dagoba as of October 2006.

SNYDER’S-LANCE owns Late July in a minority stake purchase in December 2007.

CAMPBELL SOUP CO. owns Wolfgang Puck (July 2008) and bought Bolthouse Farms for $1.55 billion in July 2012.

M&M MARS bought Seeds of Change in 1997.

CONAGRA bought Lightlife in July 2000 and RALCORP (private label organic foods) for $6.8 billion in November 2012.  Ralcorp also bought Lovin Oven and Bloomfield Bakers for $140 million in March 2007.

GENERAL MILLS bought LaraBar in June 2008, Food Should Taste Good in February 2012, Cascadian Farm in December 1999 which owned Muir Glen back in March 1998.

TREEHOUSE FOODS bought Naturally Fresh for $25 million in March 2012 and Sturm Foods for $660 million in December 2009.

POST FOODS (spinoff from Ralcorp in 2012) owns New Morning and Erewhon as of January 2013 and bought Hearthside Foods (cereal division) in May 2013 for $158 million.  Hearthside bought Willamette Valley Granola in May 2010 and Peace Cereal and Golden Temple in September 2011.

FOSTER FARMS bought Humboldt Creamery in August 2009 for $19.5 million.

JOHN B. SANFILIPPE & SEN bought Orchard Valley Harvest in May 2010 for $29.5 million.

DANONE (Dannon) bought 92% equity stake in Happy Family in May 2013 plus Stoneyfield in October 2001 (40% equity) and January 2004 (85% majority equity).  Stonyfield also owns Brown Cow (February 2003).  In November 2009, Stonyfield brand licensed to CROPP (Organic Valley) for fluid milk.

J&J SNACK FOODS bought Kim & Scott’s for $7.9 million in June 2012.

J.M. SMUCKER bought Millstone in November 2008, Santa Cruz Organic in 1989 and R.W. Knudsen in 1984.

KELLOGG bought Bear Naked and Wholesome & Hearty for $122 million back in November 2007.  They also bought Kashi in June 2000 and Morningstar Farms/Natural Touch in November 1999 for $307 million.

AB INBEV bought Goose Island for $38.8 million in March 2011.

MAPLE LEAF FOODS owns CANADA BREAD CO. (90% equity stake) which owns Olafson’s Baking Co (July 2002).

CARGILL formed an alliance with French Meadow to develop nutritionally enhanced ingredients in May 2002.  French Meadow is controlled by RICH PRODUCTS CORP (July 2006).  In addition, Cargill formed a joint marketing agreement with Meyer Natural Foods in June 2010.  Meyer owns Dakota Beef (December 2010).

HAIN CELESTIAL and CARGILL formed an alliance to develop nutritionally enhanced ingredients in August 2003.  Hain Celestial owns the following organic brands: Imagine/Rice Dream/Soy Dream (December 2002), Celestial Seasonings (March 2000 for $390 million), Westbrae/Westsoy/Little Bear/Bearitos (October 1997 for $23.5 million), TofuTown (June 2007), SunSpire/MaraNatha (March 2008), Walnut Acres (June 2003) which also owns Mountain Sun/ShariAnn’s/Millina’s Finest/Frutti di Bosco, BluePrint (November 2012), Ella’s Kitchen (May 2013), Earth’s Best (September 1999), Nile Spice (December 1998), Spectrum Organics (August 2005 for $33 million), DeBoles/Garden of Eatin’/Arrowhead Mills (April 1998 for $80 million) and Breadshop/Health Valley/Casbah (April 1999 for $80 million).

 
As you can see from this chart, many of today’s organic brands are now owned and operated by some of the world’s largest food processors and conglomerate chain companies.  This gives the consumer fewer independent organic brands to choose from.  You can also see the change between June 2009 to May 2013, with several notable and very large acquisitions of organic brands in the food industry.

 

This information is provided by Phil Howard, Associate Professor at Michigan State University.

So Who Do You Think Owns Organic Brands? You would be truly surprised and frightened by who actually OWNS ORGANIC!

We want to let you in on a little secret: buying and eating organic products doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s healthier or more nutritious. Most of the time, it does. But sometimes, organic brands and organic products are now what they seem to make out to be. Read all about it below:

 

At Just Add Good Stuff, we always promote self-education and awareness about what actually goes in and on your body. So we would like you to ask yourself … who owns organic? Who actually owns organic brands and who’s behind the clever marketing that is transforming our eating and buying patterns? The truth will scare you… it sure frightened us when we dug a bit deeper into the organics industry and how it is affected by the big conglomerates.

 

The frightening research that was published by Phil Howard, a respected professor of Agriculture at Michigan State, shows how the organic industry has changed over the past few years. So who owns organic? Did you know that organics and organic brands are now being gobbled up and taken over by the big conglomerates without the consumer even knowing? Well, Phil Howard embarked on researching which organic brands have been bought out and are now controlled by some of the 25 large conventional worldwide food processors.

 

He produced this Organic Food Industry Chart back in 2002 when the organic industry was at its infancy. This was also the first year in which the USDA first implemented the organic food labeling system/standard. In addition, Phil Howard also published an animated graphic on how the organic sector consolidation has taken place between 1997 and 2007.

 

 

Here’s some of his research in the ‘who owns organic’ question in the United States (and globally):

HEINZ is in strategic partnership with HAIN CELESTIAL. Hain Celestial is the maker of many ‘organic brands’ that include Celestial Seasonings, Soy Dream, Rice Dream, Arrowhead Mils, Garden of Eatin’, Spectrum Organics, Earth’s Best and Westsoy. In addition, Hain Celestial controls ShariAnn’s, Little Bear, Westbrae, Mountain Sun, Walnut Acres, Nile Spice, Casbah and Breadshop, which in turn are controlled by Heinz.

CARGILL also controls parts of HAIN CELESTIAL and FRENCH MEADOW

KELLOGG owns and controls BEAR NAKED, WHOLESOME & HEARTY (garden burgers), KASHI CEREAL and MORNINGSTAR FARMS (and Natural Touch, makers of many organic veggie burgers and vegetarian/vegan products).

GENERAL MILLS owns both CASCADIAN FARMS (organic produce) and MUIR GLEN (organic canned products).

CONAGRA owns both LIGHTLIFE and ALEXIA FOODS.

M&M MARS owns SEEDS OF CHANGE.

CADBURY owns GREEN & BLACK’S.

HERSHEY FOODS owns DAGOBA (organic chocolate).

KRAFT owns BOCA FOODS and BACK TO NATURE.

DEAN FOODS owns WHITE WAVE/SILK (organic soy products), ALTA DENA, HORIZON (maker of top selling organic milk products) and THE ORGANIC COW OF VERMONT.

NESTLE owns TRIBE MEDITERRANEAN FOODS (maker of top selling hummus in the United States).

PEPSI owns NAKED JUICE.

COCA-COLA owns ODWALLA JUICE.

 

Now, we’re not concluding that these organic products and fresh organic produce are unsafe, but as a consumer, wouldn’t you want to do more research into how this happened, and whether these so-called organics are truly unaltered, healthier and more nutritious than other brands that these conglomerates own? If these big global companies are buying out all the smaller organic produce and organic brands, they will have complete control over the organic industry… which to us, is quite scary.

 

There are, however, some independent North American certified organic food brands that are not yet owned by big companies (as of late 2009). These independent organic food brands total more than $25 million worth of annual sales (and growing) which make them likely acquisition targets in the near future. However, right now, here is a list of independent organic brands:

• Lundberg Family Farms
• Equal Exchange
• Nature’s Path
• Newman’s Own Organics
• Organic Valley
• Frontier Natural Products (includes Simply Organic products)
• Turtle Mountain
• Golden Temple (includes Yogi Tea and Peace Cereal products)
• Cedarlane
• Alvarado Street Bakery
• Applegate Farms
• Pacific Natural Foods
• Clif Bar (also includes Luna Bars)
• Traditional Medicinals
• Amy’s Kitchen
• Eden Foods
• Level Ground Trading
• Alter Ego Chocolate
• ProBar
• Galerie au Chocolat