When Big Food Buys Small

It happens over and over again and the latest casualty in the war on GMO’s is Annie’s.  Whole foodies have come to love the adorable bunny as an alternative to the chemical and artificially colored Kraft and Velveeta varieties of pasta and cheese.

Now that General Mills has acquired Annie’s many are calling for a boycott. Dedicated natural and organic eaters have seen the decline of the quality of food that they love before. When Kellogg’s bought Kashi the giant didn’t see the importance of keeping the people who established and maintained the brand. After a change in management and location caused a steep decline in sales Kellogg’s is now trying to correct their mistakes. Return of earlier management and a move back to California are the pieces Kellogg’s is hoping will fill in their blanks. (See more about Kashi and Kellogg’s here.)

In the information age hardly anything can stay a secret anymore. It’s no surprise to anyone that when big food buys small things change. When Colgate bought Tom’s the same sort of concern and backlash occurred. Of course, there are proponents who claim nothing changes when a small organic company goes big; however, as a critical thinker I find this pill hard to swallow.

 

The almighty dollar and the amassing of as many of them as possible is the goal for these big corporations, let’s not fool ourselves. If the goal is to save money and make money what would change for any entity that becomes a part of the parent conglomerate? My children follow the rules of my home, just as I’m sure any parents would insist on. Even less than that, any guest that comes in my home will, out of respect and courtesy fall in line with the goings on (when in Rome, do as).

If all of the above is true, why wouldn’t we think that a buy out would result in the same behavior? The old saying is “he who has the gold makes the rules”. Big food has the gold. The FDA has the gold. Yes, Annie’s was doing well before they were bought, but $820 million is nothing to toot a nose at.

I wish it weren’t so. In a perfect world we would still grow our own food (We talked about this before. Look here). Or at least be able to trust the sources of our food. The only way to know what we are putting in our bodies is to grow it ourselves. In the meantime, we can only make the most informed choices we can for our families.