Okay, so I’m flipping through one of the happy housewife magazines that I subscribe to, eating lunch and not really paying attention to what I’m reading ($160 is too much to pay for a hot trend item that looks good on exactly nobody and will be out of style in 6 months) when I come across an ad that makes me choke on my soup.
The eeeeevilest of evil corporations has gone organic.
Sweet motherfucking hell.
Currently Kraft is only offering crackers, salad dressing and coffee in organic form, but you can bet your sweet patootie that there’s more to come.
Although organic products have recently gained an increase in recognition, organic practices are deeply rooted in traditional agricultural methods. Organic farming practices employ a variety of ecologically stable methods to help sustain a healthy environment. Composting, recycling and crop rotations are just some of the holistic practices farmers utilize to ensure a sustainable land, where crops are grown with natural fertilizers such as manure and without the use of synthetic pesticides. Animals raised on organic farms have access to pasture and open air runs to foster their health and natural behaviour, and are raised without the use of growth hormones.
Kraft organic products are created with carefully selected organically grown ingredients, and their organic qualities are maintained at all stages of production. Organic foods are minimally processed and contain no artificial preservatives or genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Since when has Kraft been concerned about the environment? Or, for that matter, about people’s health? They’re owned by a cigarette company for fuck’s sake. Oh yeah, I remember now… organics is gaining in popularity by leaps and bounds. Kraft is interested in organics because there’s money to be made. Ka-fucking-ching.
The real question is what this means for everyone else. How does a mainstream company like Kraft getting into organics affect the other companies that have been working so hard for so long to not only sell their products but to help create and enforce the regulations that govern organic growers? Will we now see Kraft items showing up in places like WholeFoods or smaller health food stores? What will Kraft’s involvement with organic coffee do to the many co-operatives that have been created to assist growers? And if they’re going to the effort of producing organic coffee, why is it not also fair trade?
For years, people who supported the organic movement talked about making it more mainstream. Well Kraft is about as mainstream as you can go. I’m torn on this. Obviously, as someone who has made an effort to eat organic foods for almost a decade now, I’d love to see the mainstream embrace this trend. It’s good for consumers, it’s good for the environment… I just really, really don’t want it to be good for evil fucking Kraft Foods. They’re the problem, not part of the solution.