Originally posted October 20, 2015.
Would it surprise you that a number of stalwarts in the organic food industry are now owned by big conventional food companies? Stonyfield (yogurt) is now owned by Group Danone, Earthbound Farms is owned by Whitewave, Applegate Farms is owned by Hormel, Honest Tea is part of Coca-Cola, and Cascadian Farms is owned by General Mills. And in the latest merger conquest, Perdue Farms has bought Niman Ranch.
Bill Niman, who founded Niman Ranch to raise animals without the use of pharmaceuticals and chemicals, has complicated feelings about the sale. “Right now I have pretty good feelings about it,” he says. Niman feels that Perdue is capable of adhering to the high standards for treating animals better and farmers as respectably as Niman Ranch has done. But he does worry that Perdue will just try to maintain that reputation just through marketing and that the poultry behemoth will create confusion in the marketplace by putting a spin on things.
Read more from NPR here.
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