Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Ben & Jerry's at odds with Unilever in GMO food fight | The Salt Lake Tribune

Ben & Jerry's at odds with Unilever in GMO food fight | The Salt Lake Tribune:



In early May, Unilever Chief Executive Officer Paul Polman paid a visit to the headquarters of its subsidiary Ben & Jerry’s in South Burlington, Vermont, meeting with about 100 employees to share his views on deforestation, farming, and food made with ingredients from genetically modified organisms.

That night, Polman had dinner and ice cream with Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, D, and Ben & Jerry’s CEO Jostein Solheim. Two days later, with Solheim at his side, Shumlin signed the nation’s first law requiring labeling of foods made with GMO ingredients.
If Unilever tries to play both sides of the issue, it may wind up hurting itself and Ben & Jerry’s. "In the short run, they might get away with ignoring what B&J is doing, but sooner or later it will catch up with them," said Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition and public health at New York University and the author of "Food Politics," a book about how the food industry influences nutrition policy.
Unilever’s stance makes it "look stupid," Nestle said, and it could open up the company to boycotts from consumer activists angry about its hypocrisy. "I suspect we will be hearing much more about this."
Ben & Jerry’s has never shied away from speaking out on social issues, and Unilever, since acquiring the company in 2000, has not interfered. Since 1985, Ben & Jerry’s has donated a portion of its profits to community projects across the U.S. In 1996, the company sued the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois for the right to label its products as free of recombinant bovine growth hormone, which is given to cows to boost milk production. A condition of Unilever’s acquisition was that Ben & Jerry’s would have a separate board of directors not chosen by its owner.
The maker of Chunky Monkey and Phish Food is not the only feel-good brand whose outspoken views might make its parent nervous. Organic beverage maker Honest Tea, owned by Coca-Cola, is, along with Ben & Jerry’s, a member of the "Just Label It" campaign, which advocates for mandatory GMO labeling nationwide. Honest Tea founder Seth Goldman, who declined to comment for this story, said in a 2012 blog post that "there are bound to be moments when our enterprise does not share all of the same ideas as our parent company. But there’s never been any pressure to compromise."

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