Morningstar Farms: Mega-Corporate Food

December 18th, 2007 at 10:00 pm (Vegetarian Lifestyle)

Let’s get this straight right off – I love Morningstar Farms‘ food products. In fact, the accessibility and attractiveness of their products are one of the enablers of mainstream vegetarian (and vegan) living!

But there is one thing about Morningstar that many people don’t know: They’re actually just another brand owned by the Kellogg Company. Despite the lack of any mention on the “About Us” page at the Worthington (owner of the Morningstar Farms trademark) web site, Kellogg purchased Morningstar in 1999. Of course, since the Worthington and Morningstar pages are hosted at Kellogg.com, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out.

Why mention this? So many vegetarians and vegans don’t realize just how corporate-ized the alternative foods industry has become. Pick just about any alternative foods company, and you’ll find that a corporate giant owns it:

  • Boca, Back to Nature, and Balance are owned by Kraft, which is part of Philip Morris (nee Altria)
  • Annie’s and Gardenburger are owned by (separate) private capital companies
  • Cascadian Farm is owned by General Mills
  • Fakin’ Bacon, Foney Baloney, Gimme Lean, Smart Dogs, Tofu Pups, etc (Light Life) are ConAgra since 2000
  • Kashi joins Morningstar Farms at Kellogg
  • Nantucket All Serve is now served by Cadbury Schweppes
  • Nature’s Farm Organic is chicken-monster Tyson
  • Odwalla is Coca Cola
  • Stoneyfield Farms is a label of Groupe Danone (Dannon)
  • Ben and Jerry’s is now part of Unilever

Ask yourself: Are the healthy alternative foods you enjoy really what you think they are? Is there that much difference in eating Stoneyfield Farms or Dannon yogurt? How environmentally friendly are ConAgra’s Tofu Pups, really?  And does it bother you that the same company makes Chef Boyardee and Slim Jim?

I’m not sure what the answer is. But I have questions…

More information is available at endgame.

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