Column: Co-op contradicts its claims

by Aryn Seiller

Daily Lobo Columnist

If you think global capitalism has not damned us yet, look at what it's doing to our food.

As one of our necessary resources, food is heavily mismanaged to secure Western hegemony in foreign countries. At this point, people do not starve from shortages of food; people die because food is globally manipulated, even in Albuquerque. The manipulation of food in our city is inseparable from the global market.

I purchase 99 percent of my groceries at La Montanita Co-op and therefore am somewhat biased. The Co-op employees are wonderful, knowledgeable, underpaid and kept from unionizing. Bulk buying in reusable containers from home is very satisfying; organic is a necessity and local is best.

But I'm somewhat perplexed. The Co-op's mission statement declares that "[the Co-op] strives for excellence . . . [and] our mission is to provide at the lowest price possible, exemplary customer service, environmentally sound products, and the highest quality natural and organic food. We are committed to ethical business practices, participatory management and cooperative principles. Our intention is to provide to the entire community, through practice and education, a working model for a healthy, sustainable future."

In a profit over people pronouncement, the Co-op has decided to sell products produced by such corporations as General Mills, Heinz, the Altria Group, Dupont, Pioneer Hi-Bred, Kraft Foods and Coca Cola. Few of these corporations, if any, prescribe to the same environmental ethics as the Co-ops. Moneyed interests control the method and means of law, and food is no exception. The sheer size and global expansionist goals of multinational corporations mean corporate pollution is a constant reality. The Co-op's mission statement promises to further "environmentally sound products." Are they succeeding by supporting these companies?

Can these corporations - specializing in heavily processed, genetically modified, hormone infused and nutritionally void products - make the "highest quality natural and organic food?" Several of the Co-op's top sellers - Muir Glen, Cascadian Farms and Small Planet - are subsidiaries of General Mills. General Mills has current global joint ventures with the Pepsi Bottling Company and Nestle. It is also working with Dupont to develop soy foods marketed under the 8th Continent brand. Dupont Agriculture and Nutrition is among world leaders in the production of herbicides, fungicides and insecticides.

If Dupont sees the benefit of controlling a growing market of organic food, it also profits by creating the very chemical concoctions that destroy (organic) food. Dupont, in a joint venture with Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., is the world's largest commercial seed producer, selling scientifically engineered seeds in 70 countries. The venture utilizes 110 primary research sites. Dow Chemical has heavily invested in a venture with Dupont called Dupont Dow Elastomers.

"It's a plastic world thanks to Dow," remarks the company's profile. Dow is the world leader in the production of plastics, chemicals, hydrocarbons, herbicides and pesticides, adhesives, sealants, coatings, Styrofoam and insulation, commodity chemicals and petrochemicals.

Is it possible that these global corporations, in accordance with the Co-op's mission statement, are "committed to ethical business practices?" If you buy Stoneyfield, your money goes to Group Danone, which is 51 percent owned by Coca Cola (Coca Cola also owns Odwalla). Danone, one of the largest food producers in the world, is number two worldwide in bottled water. And Danone doesn't hide its globalization interests.

In 1986, Danone took over Italy and Spain's mineral water companies. In 2000, Danone purchased the bottled water firm McKesson Water. Since a 2002 joint venture between Danone and Coca Cola, the two corporations command 50 percent of the global beverage market, including bottled water. Will the Co-op continue to support a corporation that holds control of water resources in Asia, Argentina, Canada, China, France, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Turkey and the United States?

If you buy Celestial Seasonings, Arrowhead Mills, Hain Pure Food, Rice Dream, Soy Dream, Westsoy, Yves, Westbrae, Terra Chips, Garden of Eatin', Bearitos, Earth's Best, Imagine Natural soups and broths, Little Bear, Near East or Nile Spice products, you support the Heinz Corporation which recently contracted with McDonald's to supply the worldwith McVeggie Burgers.

With the Co-op contradictorily selling products made by these corporations as well as Phillip Morris, Kraft and Betty Crocker, how can it be invested in a "working model for a healthy sustainable future?"

With the Co-op's practices contradicting the bulk of its mission statement, perhaps "participatory management and cooperative principles" may become a thing of the past.