Horizon Organic, the country’s largest organic milk products distributor, has recently announced a new line of “all natural” products. This is dismaying to many fans of the organic movement, because it would cause an erosion in revenue and profit to organic farmers.

You see, “Natural” is an undefined term, at least from a regualtory perspective. Which means products labeled “Natural” will enjoy the Horizon aura of health, but cost far less to manufacture, reaping a hefty profit to Horizon.

The first products are toddler yogurts, called Little Blends, and are expected to roll out later this month. Milk Breakers, a boxed vanilla / chocolate drink is slated for later this year.

According to Horizon, their natural products will be produced “without added hormones, artificial sweeteners, artificial colors, flavors, preservatives or high fructose corn syrup.” [source: LA Times]

What you need to know:

This is a great marketing move by Dean Foods, the mega dairy corporation that acquired Horizon back in 2003. In professional lingo this is called brand extension. You take the well known spotted cow logo of Horizon Organic and plaster it on new line of products.

What’s deceptive here, is that the new product line is NOT organic. The amorphous “all natural” claim is not defined by the FDA or USDA, although a  an FDA spokeswoman said “the agency does not object to using the term on food labels ‘in a manner that is truthful and not misleading’ and if the product has no added color, artificial flavors, or synthetic substances.”

But this is too open ended. For example, High Fructose Corn Syrup is considered by some manufacturers as a natural product, because it is made from corn.

“All natural” foods are one of the fastest growing product categories in the US in the past year. It’s no wonder all the big manufacturers are jumping on board. It’s great for sales, because it lets consumers feel good about their choice, even with no real backing.

At the end of the day, this move will deteriorate even further consumer perception of differences between organic and natural food. This ultimately hurts organic farmers, who are already struggling in a tough economy.

Horizon has previously been called out for production practices claimed to be out of line with organic principles. It seems that the bigger you grow as a company, the harder it is to adhere to your original beliefs and principles.

And don’t get us started on toddler yogurts. What’s the problem with junior enjoying a regular yogurt? Is it caffeinated? Does it have alcoholic content? But that’s the subject for another post.

What to do at the supermarket:

Don’t get duped by “Natural” labels. They do not necessarily mean the product is healthy for you. If you want no growth hormones, antibiotics, and free pastured cows, you’ll have to cough up the cash to pay for the more expensive organic products.

And if you are buying conventional, look beyond the front of package marketing hype and read the nutrition panel carefully. Look at daily values for nutrients and examine the ingredient list.  A high amount of fat and sugar in a product may count as natural, but they definitely do not make it a healthy food.

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July is National Ice Cream Month, and in honor of our favorite dessert, we’ll post some interesting articles in the coming weeks.

Today, a look at Breyers and Dreyer’s, two leading brands that people often confuse with each other. Dreyer’s is owned by Nestle, and Breyers by Unilever, both huge European food corporations.

Breyers started on the east coast and expanded west; Dreyer’s – in the opposite direction. Dreyer’s adopted Edy’s as their brand name east of the Rockies, but Breyers did not reciprocate out west.

So which company makes better ice cream?

What you need to know:

Taste is a matter of choice, so we won’t comment. But we did want to check if  there was any nutritional advantage to one brand over the other.

Breyers was once famous for its very short ingredient list – milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla. However, since being acquired by Unilever, and as a means to cut production costs, the ingredient list has changed and includes Tara gum, Guar gum, ice-structuring proteins, mono and diglycerides, corn-syrup, and something called Natural Flavor. For the most part, these additives are harmless, but you should inspect ingredient lists to make sure there are no artificial colors.

Today, both companies carry multiple lineups of products, divided into names such as “Light”, “No sugar added”, “All Natural”, and “Carb Smart”.

Keeping ice cream tasty while reducing its caloric foot print is not an easy task. Replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols is an easy first step, but yields a slightly off taste, and for some people causes bloating and gas.

Taking out the fat is a bigger challenge. After all the “cream” in “ice cream” is milk fat. Dreyer’s introduced a new processing method a few years ago called slow churning, which enables reaching the same creamy consistency of regular ice cream using a third less cream. Usually a spoonful more sugar is added to compensate for the loss of fat (17 grams vs 14 grams).

From a nutritional perspective Dreyer’s and Breyers are very simialar. A comparison of half cup serving of regular Vanilla ice cream is shown below.

What to do at the supermarket:

Here’s our ice cream philosophy – Ice cream is NOT a nutrition product. It should not be treated as one. It should be a fun and tasty treat consumed in moderation. Better a cup of creamy rich Vanilla ice cream once a week, than five half cups of subpar “1/3 calories less” product consumed almost daily.

Don’t eat ice cream as a meal replacement. Don’t eat straight out of the bucket in front of the TV.

Do add a scoop on top of fruit, or in a tall glass of ice coffee.

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Starting this Sunday, Meijer is offering health conscious consumers a new line of store brand products called “Meijer Naturals”.

In a press release, Meijer detailed its gameplan:

[Meijer Naturals] was created to provide a healthy and tasty alternative for customers who seek wholesome foods that are minimally processed and contain nothing artificial.

“Meijer Naturals is a natural fit for us, and a great fit for those who lead a smart and active lifestyle where healthy living and eating are paramount,” said Ralph Fischer, group vice president-foods at Meijer.  “This is an exciting brand that we feel today’s shopper will embrace given that it’s delicious, wholesome and a great value.”

Read the entire press release [Reuters]…

There will be 75 products in the lineup, from snacks and sauces to desserts and beverages, priced 10-15% lower than comparable national brands.

According to Meijer, the products will NOT contain:
- Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)
- high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
- artificial sweeteners
- added hydrogenated oils or trans fats
- artificial food colorings or flavorings
- artificial preservatives

What you need to know:

Meijer is a regional chain with 185 stores in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky.

Two years ago the retailer launched an organic line, and this is dubbed the sister line. At a time where organic may be too expensive, this seems like a smart marketing move by Meijer.

Since there is no definition for what “Natural” means (at least not by the FDA), Meijer took the liberty of defining it themselves.

Keep in mind that natural does not necessarily means healthy. Potato chips are all natural. Sugar, butter, and salt are all natural, but best consumed sparingly. Cyanide is also natural…you get the drift.

What to do at the supermarket:

As always, don’t trust health claims on boxes and don’t get blinded by shiny packages. Take a look at the ingredient list and nutrition panel before deciding if a product is truly healthy for you or not.

If any of our loyal readers in the Michigan area can get their hands on some new products and email us pictures including the nutrition panel, we’ll be happy to help you analyze the data and see just how healthy the natural line really is.

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A bit of good news this week. 16 million less Americans are drinking sugary soft drinks now compared to 6 years ago (68% of adults vs 76%). This, from a report published by Mintel, a marketing research firm.

What are we drinking instead?
That’s the bad news:
1. 7.8 million switched to diet soft drinks.
2. 24 million added bottled water to their shopping carts. (the healthiest choice, but oh so many plastic bottles…)
3. 17 million more gulped down energy drinks. (the caffeine, the calories…)
4. 11 million additional future Olympians opted for sports drinks. (the broken dream of  enhancement…)

The study also found that 16% of Americans are concerned about high-fructose corn syrup, while 15% are worried about artificial sweeteners in diet drinks.

At the same time, an academic research report affirms what dietitians have been telling us for quite some time: cutting calories from sugary drinks may be more effective for weight loss than reducing the same amount in solid foods.

The study was  conducted by Liwei Chen, M.D., Ph.D., M.H.S., assistant professor of epidemiology, School of Public Health, LSU Health Science Center, New Orleans and published this week in  the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition:

One reason for this [finding] is that the body is able to self-regulate its intake of solid food. For example, if you eat too much solid food at lunch, you’ll tend to eat less at dinner. But the same self-regulation is not there for what you drink, experts say. Your body does not adjust to liquid calories, so over time, you gain more weight, Chen explained.

Thestudy “supports what many have suspected — liquid calories don’t satisfy,” said Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis. “In addition, the identification that [sugar-sweetened beverages] can impact weight gain more than other liquids is an important message as Americans continue to work to lower their calories.”

more details…

What you need to know:

Soft drinks are a very lucrative market for the food industry. The raw materials are dirt cheap (water, sugar, food coloring), and the returns are very high.

The top 2 players in the US, The Coca Cola Company and PepsiCo, are well aware of shifting trends in consumer preferences and have plenty to continue to offer us from their quiver of brands picked up over years of consolidation.

What to do at the supermarket:

Here’s a radical idea. Why not skip the beverage aisle next time you go shopping?

Tap water in the US is clean, refreshing, and of negligible cost.

In fact, a family of 4 will save over $500 in grocery bills by just quitting soft drinks.

What are you waiting for?

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