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To the shock and disappointment of many health-conscious consumers across North America, General Mills purchased beloved organic brand Annie’s Homegrown in an eye-popping deal valued at $820 million, or $46/share.
This is just the latest in a long string of acquisitions of small, natural food companies by huge, multinational corporations in recent years.
The purchase of Annie’s Homegrown, a 25-year-old company whose trademark motto is “Real Food Tastes Better” is particularly hard to take for parents because Annie’s products are focused and targeted to children.
John Foraker, CEO of Annie’s Homegrown (not to be confused with the privately held company Amy’s Kitchen), said the following of the acquisition:
We are excited about this strategic combination, which will enable Annie’s to expand the reach and breadth of our high quality, great tasting organic and natural products, provide new opportunities for our employees, realize greater efficiencies in our operations, and maximize value for our stockholders.
To those customers greatly concerned that Annie’s product quality will tank due to the new affiliation with frankenfood titan General Mills, Foraker went on to say that:
Annie’s will remain dedicated to our mission: to cultivate a healthier and happier world by spreading goodness through nourishing foods, honest words and conduct that is considerate and forever kind to the planet. Authentic roots, great tasting products, high quality organic and natural ingredients, and sustainable business practices will continue to be the cornerstones of the Annie’s brand.
Quick to take action, many enraged consumers have labeled Annie’s a traitor company and vowed to boycott Annie’s products as a result of the news, primarily motivated by the fact that General Mills contributed $2.1 million to defeat California GMO labeling initiative Prop 37 in 2012 and I-522, a similar measure in Washington State.
In addition, General Mills is a member of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) which not only spent millions to defeat GMO labeling across the United States but arrogantly went so far as to sue the state of Vermont for its successful passage of a GMO labeling bill. Moreover, GMA supports and even helped draft a federal bill in Congress that will deny states the right to pass their own GMO labeling initiatives.
The Organic Consumers Association is in support of the Annie’s Homegrown boycott, calling for consumers to sign a petition to CEO Foraker that states the following:
Dear Mr. Foraker,
I am disappointed that Annie’s has sold out to a company like General Mills.
General Mills has so far spent $2.1 million to defeat GMO labeling initiatives, in California and Washington State. The company is a member of the Grocery Manufacturers which also has spent millions to defeat GMO labeling laws, has joined other groups to sue the state of Vermont to overturn the mandatory labeling law passed there earlier this year, and helped draft the bill, sponsored by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan), that would deny states the right to pass mandatory GMO labeling laws and make it legal to label foods containing GMOs as “natural.”
General Mills shareholders recently overwhelmingly rejected a shareholder’s resolution to remove GMO ingredients from the company’s products. While the company says it supports a uniform federal approach to GMO labeling, what it really supports is a “voluntary” scheme that would preempt states’ rights to pass labeling laws.
As a conscious consumer, I can no longer purchase Annie’s Homegrown products. If Annie’s wants to match its parent company’s donations against GMO labeling, by contributing an equal amount to support labeling initiatives in Oregon and Colorado, and if General Mills agrees to pull out of the GMA and publicly support state and federal mandatory GMO labeling laws, I may reconsider.
Until then, I will not be buying anything under the Annie’s brand.
This chart put together by Phil Howard, Associate Professor of Michigan State University, aptly illustrates the acquisition problem being experienced in the organic food industry and why consumers are concerned enough to be resorting to boycotts with the hope of altering the trend.
Why I Don’t Plan to Join the Annie’s Boycott
While I certainly sympathize with those in support of Annie’s boycott for the reasons listed above, I am not planning to join in at this time.
The primary reason I will continue to buy Annie’s brand on occasion as I have done for years is that this seems to be a classic case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
While it certainly would be easier in the long run for Annie’s to maintain its commitment to quality, organically produced food if it remained an independent company, it is not necessarily a done deal that quality will fall from an acquisition by General Mills.
The owners of Annie’s have a right to sell, after all. The company has been around for 25 years and maybe this is the right choice for the founding family. Who are we to judge their reasons?
This is a free country and threatening the company with an organized boycott when it has not yet deviated one whit from its original mission for something that is completely within its legal right and the founding family’s choice for the pursuit of happiness as they see fit seems very un-American to me.
It’s a “you’re guilty until proven innocent” mentality.
In addition, many Americans only have a choice to buy food at a Super WalMart or some other large supermarket chain. For these people, Annie’s represents a very good option and targeting a company with a boycott unintentionally harms these people too who have so few food choices as it is.
It is certainly very important for consumers to keep a close eye on Annie’s in the coming months and years to see if the quality and commitment to the nonGMO Project does indeed begin to suffer from becoming an arm of Big Food. If it does, you can be sure that I will be among the first to drop it like a hot potato and will not spend another dime on their products.
If, however, Annie’s continues to produce quality items, I see no reason to not continue buying their products as they fit the budget and eating philosophy.
There are some of Annie’s products I never buy, but there are some that I like well enough and buy occasionally especially when I am traveling and having difficulty finding decent food. I have no plans to alter my buying patterns in any way.
However, if the opportunity presents itself, I would certainly prefer to buy from another independent company if it has a similar product to Annie’s – most especially if this company is local! But, given that Annie’s isn’t a local company no matter if it remained independent or becomes part of Big Food, the choice to buy from them doesn’t really change due to the acquisition plans.
In my view, we should support quality food wherever it is produced, big corporation or a small independent company with local businesses always taking precedence if at all possible. A dollar spent on Annie’s products is not supporting General Mills, in my opinion. It is supporting quality food, and big corporation or not, General Mills will produce more of it if we demand it as consumers.
The bottom line is that where you spend your food dollar matters. If you spend it on quality foods that are nonGMO and produced in a sustainable manner, this is the type of food that will become more available – big company or small, GMO labeling or not.
What is your view? Are you going to boycott Annie’s because it will be acquired by General Mills? Why or why not?
2019 Update
Five years after the General Mills acquisition, I am happy to report that I am still buying Annie’s products. While not as good as what I make at home, they are still of high enough quality that I occasionally purchase some of Annie’s items for lunchboxes and snacks.
“it is not necessarily a done deal that quality will fall from an acquisition by General Mills” ?? How can you say that knowing what GM stands for and has fought for? They want these small “organic non-gmo” companies for a reason! Honestly, would you trust this label anyway knowing GM owns them? I wont….
All you can take a person at is there word and the history of their actions, same with a company. If GM buys Annie’s what say will Annie’s have over what goes in their food any longer?
This is disheartening….
Sarah, I wish you would reconsider. I understand your reasoning that we should wait and see if the product changes (I think we can all reasonably assume that it will but you’re right… we shouldn’t jump the gun, so tot speak, and boycott because it might. Unfortunately, though, the fact remains that purchasing Annie’s products will now support the anti-labeling, big food machine that is keeping u from knowing what we’re buying, supporting the use of GMOs in our food, and keeping American fat & unhealthy. No we shouldn’t boycott Annie’s, but we SHOULD boycott General Mills. Since Annie’s is now a part of that family, they will no longer be in my home, in the same way that no other General Mills products are here. PS My disagreeing with you, will in no way result in any change to the way I dearly look forward to reading the Healthy Home Economist. You’ve helped us so much! Just have to agree to disagree here (unless I can change your mind) 🙂
I disagree. Quality is quality and when you spend a dollar on quality, that is your vote. And, everyone commenting here spends $$ with companies that are anti-labeling every day of the week … they just may not know it. And, many Real Foodies are anti-labeling anyway such as Joel Salatin.
You’re right about people supporting companies that are anti labeling without knowing any better. But you’re doing it knowingly! Besides, many people actually do research to ensure they are NOT supporting such companies even when it’s not as convenient.
Joel saltine is a Libertarian, so is ok with legalized drugs and everything else that is outlawed, so of course he is against labels. He is not the only real ‘Foodie’ out there.
I won’t change my mind until I see a good reason too … such as quality going down the tubes or Annie’s changing its committment to nonGMO products. A change in business structure is not a good enough reason for a boycott in my opinion. Corporations will make what we want them to make and this is a good opportunity to demonstrate this with continued support of Annie’s until (if and when) the company’s actions warrant a change in our buying habits.
My question, Sarah, how will you know if they start using GMO ingredients in their products. I would find it hard to believe that General Mills won’t start substituting GMO products. They can say that they are organic, but can you truly believe them?
As I said in the post, I will drop them like a hot potato if they deviate one iota from their original mission.
A Boycott against a company with a product that they love, and yet the same crowd has overlooked Al Gores sell out of Current TV for 500 million to the Royal family of Qatar ( no bigger Big Oil money folks).
25 years is a long time to run a company, and everyone has a moment when its time to retire.
I agree that they have the right to sell, but I worked for 15 years for a small, family-owned book publisher who had a very high-quality product; when the owner wanted to retire he sold it to a conglomerate and I have watched the quality fade in favor of the bottom line, so I will not go out of my way to boycott Annie’s but will probably look elsewhere for like products. It’s a two-edged sword, getting bought by the big guys; it gives the smaller company more resources and clout but they are at the mercy of the profit hungry board of the larger company, which inevitably wins out. It may take a few years, but it will happen.
Yes, I agree that the path forward is ominous for Annie’s, but we can’t just assume bad things will happen because they have in the past. Let’s give it a chance and maybe we will all be surprised and delighted.
Finally, something I agree with on your page!
Supply and demand will dictate whether or not this was a good move for both companies. I personally do not purchase boxed items or any prepared foods, anyway but someone who is using their product who has been advertised as organic and non GMO is not going to continue to purchase the product if it changes significantly to mainstream American crappy diet standards. I agree with Sarah don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Maybe this will have some positive effect and help to make larger conglomerates realize the benefits that we all are striving for are worth more than their weight in gold. I wish the best of luck to Annies and hope that they can Institute some positive changes at GM, being the eternal optimist that I am… @GM are you listening?
I am not surprised that the new Annie products are not NON-GMO labeled now that they are owned by General Mills. As the commenter above stated the new products do not say NON-GMO anymore so I will not be buying any Annie’s products, it’s sad as I have been a customer for many years! But as soon as they sold out to General Mills I knew their would be product changes immediately, corporate is not going to bother to outsource NON-GMO food period. But now it is more important than ever that we find and support companies who go out of there way to stay true to their organic, NON-GMO roots!
I haven’t seen a single Annie’s box without the NONGMO Project label. That they are abandoning their commitment to nonGMO is only rumor at the moment.
It’s unAmerican to call ppl who exercise their right to choose who they patronize. If ppl want organic GMO-free products that are also produced In the U.S., how is that unAmerican?
If YOU want to support Annie’s, go right ahead. But I will not stand with you, that’s MY right as an American.
I will continue to boycott Annie’s and any “organic” company that sells out to the Big Food Industry that continually fights the Organic movement. It’s not just “organic”, it’s GMO-free too. And there is no use in continuing to try to convince me otherwise. If the Healthy Home Economist believes it’s “unAmerican” to boycott, then I should no longer receive the emails from such.
Greedy money-grabbers have no place in my life, in my home and on my family’s dining table. It is my “American” right to choose who to buy from and it is within my “rights” to consume the food products that I want. How is it Un-American to patronize those companies who share my same opinion, especially if those companies are American too? How dare someone call me In-American because I choose to excercize my rights?
You’ve made a good point! It’s not un-American to make a decision to boycott a company when we disagree with their business decisions. It’s actually very American in that we have the free right to choose who we support and who we do not.
It’s very un-American to punish owners of a business that have *as yet* done nothing wrong but exercise freedom and pursue happiness as they see fit.
Amen Sarah!!!
The “owners” of Annie’s are now General Mills. If you don’t like what GM does, you must boycott Annie’s, as well. If you want to remain friends with the founding family, who are now super rich, you can do that, but they’re not the “owners” and whether or not you buy their former product, their job is done.
I agree that what the former owners did is totally American and legal. There are lots of things that are totally American and legal in the US and are still abhorrent. But should we expect this family to forgo millions in order to let us stay on our high horse and simultaneously eat non-GMO food? No way. Should we stop buying this food because we can’t trust its provenance? You betcha. Every dollar Annie’s earns goes directly into GM’s coffers to increase their market share by any means necessary. This, too, is the American Way. Any other view is not “optimistic”—it is uncharacteristically naive, given how sure of herself the Healthy Home Economist is on pretty much every other topic.
Not naive … realistic and practical. Many Americans have no choice but to get their food at a Super WalMart and Annie’s presents a very good option for them. Boycotting a company that has not done anything wrong as of yet is potentially hurting one of the few positive choices these folks have. Boycotting is short sighted and even a bit elitist for that reason in my view.
I am not a huge consumer of Annie’s products as I no longer have young children. I do purchase some of their dressings and condiments and have always admired their efforts.
Having spent over 40 years in sales for various companies in the food industry developing and selling products I am sorry to say that it is very unlikely the products will maintain the current quality and direction. Yes, right to give the situation a chance, but highly unlikely. All this is based on other brands watched over the years and actually working with companies who absorbed brands they purchased.
I bet some of Annie’s products will loose quality by the end of the year. I hope you post a retraction when this happens.