Todd Stadler's blog

A new definition of 'organic'?

While reading a New York Times article on organic food labeling, in which large corporations made a case for watering down the legal definition of "organic", I came across an apparently serious quote that nonetheless made me chuckle. And/or wince.

The chief executive of Annie's Homegrown ("The organic food that tastes just like corporate industrial product"), in a letter to the Agriculture Department, attempted to argue that nonorganic annatto was a crucial ingredient in the company's macaroni and cheese:

Organic annatto is not readily available and does not deliver the same cheese color. Making orange colored macaroni and cheese is an important element of our offering. Without annatto, our macaroni-and-cheese products would be white.

Well, of course! I mean, can you just imagine the horror of eating white macaroni-and-cheese? Of course you can — you can buy white cheddar mac from Annie's!

Ah, but what if, to quote Annie's corporate copy, "parents ... want organic and kids ... want orange"? What then? Surely you don't expect Annie's to give up market share to other brands of preternaturally orange mac-'n'-cheez? Kids got to have their orange food!

Besides, Annie's promises their macaroni-and-cheese only contains "all-natural ingredients ... — no weird stuff", so even if their annatto isn't organic, at least it's ... actually, what is annatto?

Wikipedia is so glad you asked. Annatto "is a derivative of the [seed of the] achiote trees of tropical regions of the Americas".

Well, there's certainly nothing "weird" about adding some (nonorganic) Brazilian seed coloring to your "all-natural", organic American pasta dish for the express purpose of making it appear some color other than its natural one. I take it all back.

Because the important thing here is that kids are eating organic food — and by "organic" I mean "more expensive".