What if you found out that your favorite brand isn’t as safe and family-friendly as its colorful branding makes it look ?
While most well-known food companies did have humble origins and may have once followed authentic family recipes, they are often forced to move towards heavy processing as they grow, including the addition of preservatives, flavoring agents and artificial coloring into their products to increase shelf life, consumer appeal and profit.
Even if food brands manage to avoid these ingredients, most still source their produce from GMO farming. In some cases, the entire company is owned by one of the most powerful and controversial GMO manufacturers : Monsanto.
Why Monsanto Owned Brands Have A Bad Reputation
Monsanto started as a herbicide and pesticide developer meant to increase agricultural revenue by eliminating factors like crop invasion by insect and weeds. However, the chemicals they sold were so strong that it often killed the plant it was trying to protect (1).
That’s when the company decided to genetically modify their seeds to make them hardy enough to survive these harsh chemical treatments. In doing so, Monsanto has single-handedly contributed to one of the worst environmental and health epidemics in human history and people are discouraged to buy any monsanto owned brands.
Monsanto’s product have cause numerous health problems in both consumers and farmers and have rendered pollinators like bees and butterflies to near-extinction (2).
Here are a few popular brands owned by Monsanto. As you can see virtually all non-organic products fall under the GMO umbrella and use GMO ingredients (3).
Some of these brands have even begun releasing organic products to divert attention away from the origin of their products and diversify their income. Heinz, for example, has recently released an organic version of their popular ketchup (4).
Safe Brands
Most organic and non-GMO products and processed foods are safe to eat, but they may still be owned by large corporations that perpetuate Monsanto’s cycle of destruction.
Here’s a quick list of organic brands that have stuck to their humble & independent origins and still produce high-quality products (5). Even so, it’s always important to read the nutritional label and avoid processed foods when possible.
- Amy’s Kitchen
- Eden Foods
- Nature’s Path
- Newman’s Own Organics
- Organic Valley