Do You Know Who Owns Your Food?

Corporate giants who were anonymously opposing the Washington state measure to mandate labeling of genetically modified ingredients through the Grocery Manufacturers Association were outed recently after the state attorney general filed a suit claiming violation of election disclosure laws. 

Funneling money through a lobbying group is not the only way that Big Food can hide from consumers. A chart created by Phil Howard, a Michigan State University assistant professor, shows how large corporations gobbled up or allied with the organic food sector around the time the U.S. Department of Agriculture adopted standards for certified organic.

Very few of these large companies identify their ownership ties on product labels, noted Howard, who teaches in the university’s Department of Community Sustainability program.

Here is Howard’s chart, which was updated in May.

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