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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Whole Foods, United Natural Foods Muscle Suppliers to Boycott Consumer Group
  • Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2010 18:22:38 -0600


Whole Foods, United Natural Foods Muscle Suppliers to Boycott Consumer Group
24 Corporate Crime Reporter 12, March 21, 2010
http://corporatecrimereporter.com/wholefoods032110.htm

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) carries a big public interest stick.

It can mobilize the 850,000 people in its network to pressure corporations
and governments.

The goal – clean, safe, organic foods and products for America.

One way that OCA raises money – it charges for ads on the group’s popular web
site – organicconsumers.org.

Two companies had purchased logo space on the OCA web site – Organic Valley
and Nature’s Path.

Until last year.

That’s when the groups dropped their sponsorship.

Under pressure from Whole Foods Market and United Natural Foods – the two
companies that dominate the organics market in the United States.

That’s according to OCA’s national director Ronnie Cummins.

“National sponsors like Organic Valley and Nature’s Path have been threatened
by Whole Foods and United Natural Foods that if they continue to support the
Organic Consumers Association they will suffer repercussions in the
marketplace,” Cummins told Corporate Crime Reporter in an interview last week.

“We had to take down those logos,” Cummins said. “We understand. We don’t
want a company to go bankrupt simply because they support the right thing.”
Cummins said high ranking executives at the Organic Valley and Nature’s Path
told him about the threats – but asked that he not disclose their names.

“Whole Foods is very careful,” Cummins said. “Whole Foods has threatened to
sue us a number of times. But they are very careful when they do this sort of
arm twisting and intimidation to not leave any evidence of it. This was all
verbally committed over the phone or in person.”

The executives from Nature’s Path and Organic Valley “apologized to us and
made me promise not to use their names,” Cummins said.

“We are trying to protect these companies and these individuals from the
fallout from Whole Foods and United Natural Foods,” Cummins said.

Cummins estimates that OCA lost a total of $40,000 in projected ad revenue as
a result of the move.

But he understands that Organic Valley and Nature’s Path can’t afford to
offend Whole Foods and United Natural Foods – the main distributor of organic
foods in the United States.

“Whole Foods sells $10 billion out of the $75 billion sold a year for the
industry,” Cummins said. “So for most companies it’s at least 15 percent, but
often up to 25 percent of their total sales. And it’s not just Whole Foods.
United Natural Foods was in on it to.”

If they were cut off by those two, they would be driven out of business?

“You would go bankrupt immediately,” Cummins said. “We call Whole Foods and
United Natural Foods the organic mafia. And it really is like that. There is
tremendous fear in the industry to say anything critical of Whole Foods and
United Natural Foods.”

When did Whole Foods and United Natural Foods begin pressuring OCA?

“It has happened over the past twelve months as we stepped up this campaign
to expose the myth of natural foods,” Cummins said. “And at first, Whole
Foods and United Natural Foods thought they could ignore the campaign. But
then they noticed we had an alliance with the United Farmworkers and with the
Teamsters.”
Cummins wants Whole Foods and United Natural Foods to sign a Food
Sustainability Pledge.

“That requires them to stop marketing conventional chemical foods as
natural,” Cummins said. “And to sell only foods in their store that are
certified organic or are in transition to organics. And it requires them to
recognize fair trade principles – not just overseas, but in the domestic
supply line.”

Whole Foods spokesperson Libby Letton said that Whole Foods did not pressure
the two companies to pull the ads.

“For the OCA to continue to mislead consumers about Whole Foods Market and
UNFI is alarming and disheartening,” Letton said. “When the OCA launched an
untrue campaign against us last year, we did contact our stakeholders,
including our suppliers, Team Members, and shoppers, because we wanted to
clear up the misinformation that was being spread by the OCA’s campaign. We
find it troubling that while the OCA accuses us of pressuring our suppliers
against them, they openly call on Whole Foods Market to ‘put the pressure on’
suppliers to transition to organic.”

“Meanwhile, the truth is that Whole Foods Market continues to champion
organics more than ever. We take enormous pride in working with hard-working
and ethical organic farmers and food producers to offer our shoppers the very
best organic products on the planet,” Letton said.

United Natural Foods could not be reached for comment.




  • [Livingontheland] Whole Foods, United Natural Foods Muscle Suppliers to Boycott Consumer Group, Tradingpost, 04/25/2010

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