December 2006

The Co-op has put together a committee to vet natural ethical and local products with a goal of moving away from irresponsible, unethical, multi-national corporations; leaning towards ethical, local and natural products. This can be a somewhat overwhelming task as corporate control over products is not always transparent and corporations will acquire previously independent products and frequently compromise the intrinsic integrity of the product; e.g., Horizon milk acquired by Dean Foods Significantly owned by Citigroup, coca-cola, Exxon-Mobil, General Electric, Home Depot, microsoft, Pepsico, Pfizer, Philip Morris, Wal-mart.

The 4th Street food Co-op has had tremendous success so far in networking with other people committed to staying closer to their food source and trying to make ethical as well as practical decisions in what brands and affordable products are sold at our store. We know that one of the reasons that people participate in co-operatives is to try to have better health for themselves and for the world. We are trying to do our best to collectively identify, promote and acquire affordable products/brands responsible in their labor practices, ethical treatment of animals and products that are natural, independently or locally produced (a distinct difference between us and most other supermarkets).

Please help by becoming a member of the 4th Street Food Co-op and feel free to contact us about products you’d like to see or those you have concerns about, as this is always a work in progress.

-- MichelleK - 15 Dec 2006

For more information:

• Organic company ownership chart - From the Cornucopia Institute
• More graphics visualizing organic industry structure - From Philip H. Howard, Assistant Professor @ Michigan State University
• The Corporate Corruption of Organics - from the Organic Consumers Association
• The Corporate Organic Conquest - also from the Organic Consumers Association
• The Corporation - a film about why publicly owned corporations are inherently bad