Multinationals Threaten Organic Foods Takeover

This article, written by Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero, is from the left-wing big business watchdog news site CorpWatch.org.

As more people in North America and Europe are eating organic foods, there is greater demand for their availability. All well and good. However, global food conglomerates are growing more of that food, while watering down strict guidelines on what can and can't be considered "organic". Worse, too many "certified organic" products are owned by companies bought out by subsidiaries of multinational giants like General Mills, General Motors, Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola and Pepsico.

Distributism opposes such backdoor ownership and control of organic food production. It would be just as wrong if any level of government (state/provincial, national) set up a similar scheme. It is better if these farms, markets and companies were owned and managed by the workers themselves, NOT by either big government or big business.

Further, Distributism advocates de-centralized and localized food production. Not only will folks get fresher food in season from local growers, but the money they spend will stay in the local economy. Also, de-centralized food production makes the national food supply a less tempting target for terrorists to disrupt.

All in all, consumers and producers should be more aware of where their organic food comes from, who produces it, and how to change things for the better in this area.