The Grocery Store Blacklist: 12 Food Companies To Avoid (And 95 Sneaky Aliases)

A genetically modified rose by any other name may smell sweet, but it could still have frankenthorns that might independently detach themselves and lop off your finger while you’re smelling it. That’s not unlike a trip to the grocery store these days. There are a lot of ugly surprises in pretty, charmingly-named packages.

It seems like no matter how hard you try to avoid them, GMOs and toxic foods creep into your life.

Take for example, the earthily-packaged “natural” foods that are showcased in your grocery store aisles. They cost twice as much, have obscure brand names, and tout their health benefits and natural sources. You can almost smell the freshly tilled soil when you pick up the box.

Unfortunately, this is nothing more than corporate sleight-of-hand.

Many of the products that seem so good are actually just subsidiaries of the companies that were most complicit in blocking GMO labeling, aided and abetted by everyone’s favorite purveyor of death, Monsanto. (Monsanto, incidentally, donated $7,100,500.00 to the fight against the labeling of GMO-containing products.)

Don’t forget that Monsanto is now above the law due to the Monsanto Protection Act, a traitorous rider that Senator Roy Blunt managed to attach to a bill that was subsequently signed into law by President Obama. (you know, that guy in the White House, who made the labeling of GMOs one of his 2007 campaign promises?)

I wish I could make a comprehensive list, but there are more stealthily labeled toxins on the shelves every single day. It all boils down to a these big companies that own nearly all of the foods sold in the United States. Some of the quietly owned subsidiaries may surprise you. Included is the amount that the company (and its subsidiaries) donated to defeat California Proposition 37 which would have required GMO labeling.

Not every item on this list contains genetically modified ingredients. The list is based on the duplicitous marketing of the companies. More consumers are trying to make healthy choices at the grocery stores, but it’s difficult when companies push their toxic wares and dress them up as health food. Young people in particular fall victim to these schemes. You have to give a kid credit for purchasing something called “Vitamin Water” over a soda pop, and it’s infuriating that the kid, trying to make a good choice, has been tricked into the purchase by deceitful advertising and marketing.
Some of the products listed, may in fact be exactly what they are portrayed to be, but I choose not to financially support the corporations behind them.

Protect your health and help starve the beast by avoiding products distributed by these companies and their subsidiaries:

Campbell’s – $250,000.00
Healthy Request
Wolfgang Puck Soups
Pace Foods
Pepperidge Farms
V-8

Cargill, Inc – $202,229.36
Truvia Natural Sweetener
Shady Brooks Farms
Diamond Crystal Salt
Liza
Nature Fresh
Peter’s Chocolate
Wilbur Chocolate
Honeysuckle White
Rumba Meats
Good Nature
Coca Cola – $1,164,400.00
Vitamin Water
Smart Water
Dasani
Nestea
Minute Maid
Honest Tea
Odwalla
Vitaminenergy
Con-Agra – $1,076,700.00
Orville Redenbacher’s Organic
Hunt’s Organic
Lightlife
Alexia
Healthy Choice
Hebrew National
Dean Foods – $253,950.00
Horizon
Silk
White Wave
General Mills – $908,200.00
Nature Valley
Fiber One
Cheerios
Cascadian Farm
Muir Glen
Lärabar
Gold Medal Organic
Food Should Taste Good
Heinz/Hains Celestial – $500,000.00
(Hains is actually owned by Heinz, Phillip Morris, Monsanto, Citigroup, Exxon-Mobil, Wal-Mart and Lockheed Martin)
Earth’s Best
Spectrum Organics
Garden of Eatin’
Casbah
Rice Dream
Soy Dream
WestSoy
TofuTown
MaraNatha
Mountain Sun
Walnut Acres
Fruiti di Bosco
Health Valley
Bearitos
Bread Shop
Celestial Seasonings
Kellogg’s – $632,500.00
Kashi
Muslix
Nutrigrain
Bear Naked
Morningstar Farms
Gardenburger

Kraft - $551,148.25
Snapple
ReaLemon
Triscuit
SnackWell’s
South Beach
Boca
Back to Nature
Nabisco
Nestle – $1,169,400.00
Pure Life
Pelligrino
Perrier
Poland Spring
Gerber
California Pizza Kitchen
Tribe Mediterranean
Sweet Leaf Tea
PepsiCo $2,249,661.61
Miss Vickie’s
Sun Chips
Aquafina
SoBe
Harvest Crunch
Dole
Ocean Spray
Tropicana
Miranda
Tazo
Quaker
Naked Juice
Mother’s
Unilever – $467,000 (source)
Salada
Knorr
Ben & Jerry’s

A little bit of good news…

It isn’t all bad news. There are a few companies you can still count on – keep in mind that corporate mergers take place every day. When businesses change hands, there is no obligation to notify the public. One such cautionary tale took place with the company Dean’s, which acquired Horizon foods. They quietly phased out the use of organic products without making any changes to the label and used non-organic milk produced under factory farm conditions. As well, they dropped the quality of their organic soy and began purchasing cheaper harvests from Asia. Meanwhile, unwitting retailers had no idea that the company had ceased producing the items organically, and continued to promote the products as they had previous to the acquisition.

Right now, these are some labels to look for.

7th Generation
Amy’s Kitchens
Apple and Eve
Applegate
Azumaya
Blue Diamond
Bob’s Red Mill
Bossa Nova
Cal Organics
Cedarlane
Cell-nique

Choice Organic Teas
Clif Bar/ Nectar Fruit
Coombs Family Farmers
Cosorzio All Natural
Country Choice
Crystal Geyser Alpine Water
Doctor Kracker
Dr. McDougall’s
Dr. Praeger
Eat Raw
Echo Farms
EcoMeal
Eddie’s Pasta
Eden Foods (The only company NOT
using harmful plastic in the lining of their
cans as bonding agent!)
Edward and Sons
Endangered Species Chocolate
Ener-G
EnvironKiz
Fantastic Foods.
Giving Nature
Golden Temple
Go Naturally
Greenway Farms
Harvest Bay
Hawthorne Valley
Ian’s Natural Foods
Koyo Organics
Lakewood
Lesser Evil
Let’s Do…Organics
LifeStream
Living Harvest
Lundberg Family
Madhava
Murray’s Chicken
Nasoya
Native Forest
Natural by Nature
Nature Factor
Nature’s Path
Newman’s Own Organic
Organic Prarie
Organic Valley
Pacific Naturals
Pamela’s
Peace Cereal
Petalumi
Rapunzel
Real Foods
Republic of Teas
Road’s End Organics
San J
Sensible Foods
Seven Star Farms
Sunergia
Tasty Bite Indian
Terra Nostra
Texmati
Theo chocolates
Think Organic
Turtle Mountain Toferky
Vermont Mystic Pie
Vitasoy
Vita Spelt
Vivani Chocolate
Wizard’s Saucery
Woodstock Farms
XOXOXO chocolate
Yogi Tea
Zija
Zoe’s Granola
Another way to avoid unscrupulous food producers is through an App called Buycott. If you happen to have an iPhone, this App can be used to check a product that you see in the stores to see what corporate links exist. You can find it HERE. (Thank you to Miranda for this link!) If I had a cellphone, I would definitely download this tool.

Better Than Starbucks Lemon Loaf

 1-½ cups flour
 ½ teaspoon baking powder
 ½ teaspoon baking soda
 ½ teaspoon salt
 3 eggs, room temp
 1 cup sugar
 2 tablespoons butter, softened
 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 2 teaspoon lemon extract
 ⅓ cup lemon juice
 ½ cup oil zest of one lemon

 Glaze:
 1 cup powdered sugar
 2 tablespoons whole milk
 ½ teaspoon lemon extract

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9 × 5 loaf pan.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In a medium bowl, combine eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla extract, lemon extract and lemon juice with a mixer until blended.

Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and blend until smooth.
Add oil and lemon zest and mix well.

Pour into loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Remove from oven and pour glaze over it, then cool in pan on a rack.
Glaze – whisk to combine.

❤
  ❤

Sugarless Cookies!