Thursday, July 9, 2009

Regarding Silk Soy Milk

Yesterday I posted a link to the Canadian Silk website for a 75 cent coupon. The reason I did so was because I was confident that Silk was made from organic soy beans and was pretty much OK. In fact, I am sure at one point their carton claimed that 86% of the ingredients in Silk, including the soy beans, were organic. But then I got an email from Michael with this link. Turns out, Silk used to be made with organic soy beans until Dean Foods (the largest milk processor in the US) took it over. I rushed to the fridge and looked at a carton. Sure enough, it said that Silk was made from "natural soybeans" and made no other claims about organic ingredients. I had totally missed the switch. So now I am providing the link to the Canadian Silk site and the American Silk site so we can all write in and tell them they suck. Make Silk organic again!

UPDATE: Not all Silk is affected, only some types. My chocolate Silk says it is organic, my plain Silk is not. Note the very subtle differences in the packages above--from "organic" to "natural." Note as well (sorry for the hastily snapped pic) that the carton on the left says it is made from "natural whole soybeans" while the right says "whole organic soy beans," has an organic certification, and makes the 86% organic claim. Readers from the U.S. have told me that Silk makes an explicitly organic brand for $1 more than the others, but I have not seen it here. Why not make all Silk from organic domestic soybeans, like it once was? And can we in good conscience support Dean Foods?