Target Accused Of Organic Food Fraud

Ever wonder if the organic-labeled milk you're drinking is really organic? If you purchased it at Target, it might not be. The Cornucopia Institute, a food and agriculture watchdog group, announced Tuesday that it has filed formal complaints with USDA's organic program accusing Target Corporation of organic food fraud. And in the midst of HuffPost's No Impact Week no less! From the group's press release:

The complaints are the latest salvo into a growing controversy whereas corporate agribusiness and major retailers have been accused of blurring the line between "natural" products and food that has been grown, processed and properly certified organic under tight federal standards.

"Major food processors have recognized the meteoric rise of the organic industry, and profit potential, and want to create what is in essence 'organic light,' taking advantage of the market cachet but not being willing to do the heavy lifting required to earn the valuable USDA organic seal," said Mark A. Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst at Cornucopia.

The Wisconsin-based farm policy research group discovered Target nationally advertised Silk soymilk in newspapers with the term "organic" pictured on the carton's label, when in fact the manufacturer, Dean Foods, had quietly shifted their products away from organics.

This is not the first time Target has been tainted by such accusations. In September 2007, the USDA threatened to revoke the organic status of Aurora Organic Dairy, a Colorado farm that supplies Target, and other stores, with milk.

This has been a big season for organic outrage -- after Whole Foods CEO John Mackey declared his store sells "a bunch of junk," he penned a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed attacking Obama's health care plan which resulted in activist outrage and a series of boycotts.

Comments

[haitken]

12:39 PM on 10/26/2009

As I was perusing through the responses made to this article it was clear that many had missed the point. The article seemed to be viewing TARGET as a deceitful greenwashing big box presuming that the Silk brand soy milk was mislabeled, directly correlating to TARGET's false advertising. All that TARGET is responsible for is the coupon which provided an image of the Silk product before they ceased some organic practices. They made an advertising mistake, not the end of the world. It seems so easy to point the finger at the capitalistic enterprises, but there is a difference between greenwashing and advertisement slip ups.

In regard to some of the other posts discussing the organic food debate (although this article isn't delving into that), there is a romantic notion of organic foods that is coupled with a hierarchical assumption. Organic products should be available to the masses as a safe alternative to conventional foods for those who so choose to participate, everyone should be a potential buyer in this market for, not just those who have the means to head over to the farmers markets once a week for kale and zucchini. This is changing these days anyways as many farmers markets accept Foodstamps. In any case this strays from the point. Organic food is another choice in the market, like buying local, or Kosher. Perhaps the root of the problem is not as much of TARGET's mislabel as it is SIlk's transformation to non-organic.

[slithers]

01:26 PM on 10/22/2009

guido says,"Yo! We trademarked the word organic. Yots can't use that word to describe your product unless you pay the boss."

[yougg]

09:02 AM on 10/22/2009

Having grown up on a farm I have always been suspicious of organic food. The only truely organic food is that which you grow yourself. All of the cheap food we have in the US is the result of fertilizers and pesticides. They majority of the population has this quaint image of farming. It is high tech agribussiness. Farmers nowadays are more of business manager/CEO/CFO's. There are very few small famers left. One practice that went away years ago is crop rotation/green manures/ and leaving fields fallow. But there some bright spots-no till is making inroads and it is encouraging to see more mico farmers doing local fruits and veggies. Drive change-grow your own or join a community supported agriculture.

[nexxtep54]

05:32 PM on 10/21/2009

Hannibal Lecter knows what organic food is. Farva beans and a good Chianti thp thp thp thp thp...

[den1953]

01:47 PM on 10/21/2009

All that tainted hamburger was approved by the USDA to ever wonder how that happened?

[Virgil Kane]

01:24 PM on 10/21/2009

The whole organic food market is one big racket. If you want food that's locally grown go to a farmer's market or grow it yourself.

[Iam12Vote]

01:43 PM on 10/21/2009

I disagree. Organic is a response to the unsustainable "racket" of conventional subsidized agribusiness. Consumers are poorly informed about their choices and this article doesn't help much.

If you want to eat fresh food grown in North America, sustainable farming isn't a luxury.

If you want government out of the process then stop all farm subsidies to agribusiness. That alone would make small farms profitable again.

[Virgil Kane]

12:43 AM on 10/22/2009

I agree, we need to end farm subsidies.

[Promise]

12:44 AM on 10/22/2009

The problem where I live is that many of the local farmers who sell at the farmers' markets do not grow their food organically. Some do but those who have been in this area for a long time are using pesticides. They charge high prices, too, now that Farmers' Markets are in vogue.

[HBHB]

12:56 PM on 10/21/2009

I still find it hilariously sad that anyone would buy their groceries, organic or not, in the same store that can sell you a flat screen TV or a vacuum cleaner.

[elvispretzel]

01:18 PM on 10/21/2009

Have you actually looked at food prices at Target? Generally speaking, they're actually cheaper than Safeway. Seriously- check 'em out.

Of course, if you really want to see a big contrast, compare the prices of Whole Foods aka "Whole Paycheck." It's like night and day.

[learnsomething]

02:27 PM on 10/21/2009

Yes, Target has low food prices. I am on my way there later today to shop for food.

[Promise]

12:46 AM on 10/22/2009

I buy organic milk at Target for a dollar cheaper than next door at a major supermarket. I could care less if there are flat screen TV's under the same roof.

[nexxtep54]

12:52 PM on 10/21/2009

Want organic food? Plant a garden, grow as much as you can. Can the excess.

[publanski]

12:38 PM on 10/21/2009

Target = Wal Mart with pretesions.

[dhinds]

12:29 PM on 10/21/2009

WhiteWave Foods (who manufacture Silk Soy Milk) does not claim Silk Soy Milk is organic. The following url presents some of the details of how it is made:

www.silksoymilk.com/content/how-silk-made

WhileWave claims the soy isn't organic but is GE gene free (for instance).

If Target advertised Silk as organic, they made a mistake.

There's not much of a scandal here.

[dhinds]

12:45 PM on 10/21/2009

WhiteWave makes TWO Silk Soy Milk's, one of which (in a blue box) IS organic.

http://www.whitewave.com/who-we-are/

(Click on the third button - it's the third image).

[Kanato]

12:22 PM on 10/21/2009

This article, particularly the headline, is really misleading. Target did not claim one of its own products, under the Market Pantry or Archer Farms brands, is Organic when it's not. Rather, it appears that its Silk supplier misled Target who made the claim and included a photo of the Silk carton in its advertising. Big difference. Target is not responsible for what the national brands put on their packaging, Target is responsible for what they put on their own brands' packaging. And the supplier is responsible for providing Target with accurate information regarding their products.

[earthborg]

11:30 AM on 10/21/2009

there are lots of corporate created organic certifications that don't mean crap. anyone that does not do their homework deserves to get swindled. people always want someone else to figure things out and do the thinking for them. not that this should be happening but it happens because people want to be sheep.

[lovesholiday]

12:29 PM on 10/21/2009

I agree

[carallen]

11:01 AM on 10/21/2009

I'm confused by this story, it goes on and on about stores mislabeling products as organic when they aren't and going after Target with their accusations. I was surprised when I got to the bottom to find out it wasn't Target's Archer Farms brand that they were after but a false advertisement claiming Silk soy milk isn't organic.

Moreover, a lot of the comments below are claiming the outrage stems from people paying more for what they think is organic. The irony here is that Target sells Silk for at least $1.00 less than most food stores.

I don't drink Silk because I believe it to be organic, I drink it because it's soy milk and we don't drink cow's milk in my house.

Yes there is a problem with false advertising here but I don't think this is the right evidence to back up the underlying outrage in the rest of this post. The real story is how they are able to sell this product for so much less that all the other retailers.

[BobQueuePublic]

10:58 AM on 10/21/2009

This story is incomplete. It hinges on a Cornucopia Institute quote that "...corporate agribusiness and major retailers have been accused of blurring the line between "natural" products and food that has been grown, processed and properly certified organic under tight federal standards." Let me help.

1) GIVE US THE EVIDENCE! Okay, Target, like others, have been ACCUSED of something. The story goes no further... where is a shred of support on either side? No follow-up is asked of Cornucopia or any qualified source. That would be a sin for a news reporter. Sadly, a blog like this lacks the staff or budget for "old fashioned" news journalism. Dang!

2) "TIGHT" STANDARDS" NEVER EXISTED: Cornucopia mentions "tight federal standards" that never existed. Years ago, organic growers -- the real entrepreneurs and innovators -- sought federal standards to keep Big Agrifood from watering-down the term. So rules were put up for comment, and Big Agrifood lobbyists drowned-out the organic farmers' standards before the rule was finalized. There's nothing tight about the resulting standard. The rule was made, leading organic producers were acquired and many of those who weren't bought (and sold) the farm. Michael Moore could have made this a compelling scene for "Capitalism - A Love Story." Farmers seek justice from the Feds, who let Big Money screw the little guys.

-----
Personal disclaimer: I'm a writer with decades in the B2B world of food production, processing, marketing, fast-food and Washington chicanery.

[dhinds]

11:06 AM on 10/21/2009

If the product sold as Organic was certified by a USDA Certfiying Agency , it was Organic (as stated by OFPA). Likewise, if the product sold as organic WASN'T certified, it wasn't organic.

But that says nothing about the quality of the product or the methods used to produce it.

In fact, the article didn't even identify the product.

[dhinds]

11:12 AM on 10/21/2009

Organic Farmer since 1968;

Chair, Organic Pineapple Working Group
international Society for Horticulural Science

Coordinador Nacional de Producción Organica
Confederacion Nacional de Propietarios Rurales

[BebeLush]

10:57 AM on 10/21/2009

Deception and lies from the food industry? Shocking!

How about Fat Free, Low Fat or No Transfat? Do some research, most of those claims are straight up lies too.

This is why I never, ever buy foods from Wal-Mart or Target or any other major chain grocery store.

[efmo]

01:33 PM on 10/21/2009

The other day I had a recipe that called for trans fat free shortening. I finally found some (we only have 2 regular supermarkets near me) & I just checked the ingredients (same brand, right next to each other) for the regular & the ingredients were exactly the same. This was a very well known brand. Needless, to say, I didn't buy it. What was the point? It actually had a few more questionable ingredients than the regular because it was supposed to be butter flavored or something like that (which wasn't what I was looking for anyway.) That was pretty blatant, I thought.