If you've taken a gander at the "What is Granolaville" page, you'd know that my family and I have recently been trading processed "Franken-food" for fresh alternatives. This has been a slow, but steady process, as it seems like each day we are learning more and more about what's really good for our bodies and what's garbage disguised by clever marketing.
There are a handful of companies who's names have made it into the mainstream media as the "leaders" in natural foods. None more so than Kashi. Their Seven Whole Grains on a Mission slogan, along with their well-crafted commercials touting "making a change...the way nature intended" may soon be falling on deaf ears.
In my local grocery store the "health food section" (where I buy 50% of my groceries) is lined with dozens of varieties of cereals, granola bars, and other snacks seemly derived from real food. But look closer, labels can be deceiving.
A firestorm of social backlash was aimed at Kellogg (the company who now owns Kashi) after a grocer in Rhode Island posted a note on his store shelves notifying customers that he would no longer be carrying Kashi brand cereal because he found out they were using non-organic & genetically modified ingredients, even though their label says "all natural".
WHAT!? You mean the same company that makes Fruit Loops and Pop Tarts Confetti Cake toaster pastries (yes that is a real thing) is showing a lack of respect for the nutritional value of our food? SHUT UP!
Apparently the soy in Kashi cereal has been injected with a gene that protects it from the herbicide, Round-up, which is used as a weed killer. The main component of this toxic chemical, glyphosate, has been linked to birth defects in animals for years, yet it still is being sold in most lawn and garden stores across the country and seeping into our food supply.
Kashi stands by its "all-natural" declaration by claiming that because the FDA doesn't regulate the term, forcing companies to abide by certain criteria, the word "natural" can be used loosely to mean "food that's minimally processed, made with no artificial colors, flavors, preservatives or sweeteners, and other artificial additives."
I'm pretty sure it's quite a process to genetically engineer an plant to withstand a poisonous cocktail of herbicides.
Throwing around the word "natural" gives the connotation that a product's ingredients come directly from the earth, without being modified in any way. However, if that's the kind of food you are looking for then the word you want to see on a label is "organic", which according to the FDA, " refers not only to the food itself, but also how it was produced. They must be grown and processed using organic farming methods that recycle resources and promote biodiversity..."
The worst part about this story is that Kashi was a brand I respected and was willing to spend the extra cash on because I felt the nutritional benefits outweighed the cost. But really why should we be surprised, most corporations will say and do whatever they can to dance on that gray line between giving total transparency and lying to our faces.
At the end of the day it is up to us to educate ourselves on what is being put on our dinner tables.
Do you feel duped by Kashi's labels?
Reading Carefully in Granolaville,
3 comments:
In addition to that, some of the Kashi cereals have *more* sugar per serving than their less green-washed alternatives. We still buy regular cheerios for that very reason!
WOW...I feel the same way; Kashi was the one cereal that we would spend the extra cash on thinking it was healthier than the others. What a shame. Kudos to the man who posted that sign in his store and took the products off the shelves. Like you said ...should we really have expected more from a corporation?
Its crazy how they sneak sugar into "healthy" foods. It's great that people like this grocer are standing up for real food. Thanks for your comments!
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