From Sara Lee’s Web site.
By Monica Eng
| A pro-organic watchdog group snapped at Sara Lee Monday for marketing
tactics related to its new EarthGrains bread. The EarthGrains bread partially
uses a wheat called “Eco-Grain TM.” On its Web site, Sara Lee claimed
that Eco-Grain is farmed in ways that offer “some advantages over organic
farming.”
Downers Grove-based Sara Lee ended up taking down that claim from its Web site by the end of the day. The watchdog group, called The Cornucopia Institute, declared the removal of the claims a “victory.”
In a section of the EarthGrains site called “Organic vs. sustainable farming,” Sara Lee said that its Eco-Grain farming methods use half the acreage to produce the same amount of grain.
“It’s a crass example of a corporation trying to capitalize on the valuable market cachet of organic, while intentionally misleading consumers — without making any meaningful commitment to protect the environment or produce safer and more nutritious food.” said Charlotte Vallaeys, a Food and Farm Policy Analyst at The Cornucopia Institute, which is based in Wisconsin.
In a statement, Sara Lee said, “We’ve been completely transparent about the environmental benefits. It is grown using ‘precision agriculture,’ an innovative farming practice shown to reduce the use of fertilizer and fuel, which is better for the environment.”
“It was never our intention to offend members of the Cornucopia Institute. As a result of this misunderstanding, we have taken the necessary actions to remove any comparable language highlighting the major differences between the two farming practices.”
According to Sara Lee, Eco-Grain makes up 20 percent of the flour in the EarthGrains bread and is farmed using technology that allows it to cut down on chemical fertilizer use by 15 percent. Cornucopia says that this technology is already widely used in conventional agriculture as a way to save money through targeted fertilizer use.
Tribune reporter Mike Hughlett contributed to this story.
