A multinational food company likely owns your favorite organic brand

Nature's Path, a large family-run label, is one of the largest organic companies to continue to rebuff corporate investors. "We have witnessed the sale of numerous organic brands to Big Food and have also seen how many of those brands have struggled to retain their soul," said Arjan Stephens, the son of the company's founder.

 (Terry Harris, Chicago Tribune)

By Peter WhoriskeyWashington Post

One of the essential questions of the organic movement is, "What foods are worthy of the USDA 'organic' label?"

The legal definition of the word is hammered down in semi-annual meetings, one of which was held last week, that involve a federal advisory board and people working in the organic industry.

But who, exactly, is that?

Increasingly, the answer is representatives of large food companies.

The boom in organic food has boosted sales over $32 billion annually and has led some of the nation's biggest food companies - General Mills, Coca-Cola, Perdue, Kellogg - to acquire or take stakes in smaller organic outfits.

The list

Food Processing, a food industry publication, ranks the top 100 food and beverage processors in the U.S. by their sales in the previous year. The 26 processors that have aquired organic brands are shown here, ranked by their 2013 food sales.

1. Pepsi

2012 revenue: $376.18 billion

1. Naked Juice 2006

3. Nestle

2012 revenue: $272 billion

1. Sweet Leaf Tea 2011
2. Tribe Mediterranean Foods 2008

5. AB InBev

2012 revenue: $160.28 billion

1. Goose Island 2011

7. General Mills

2012 revenue: $125.47 billion

1. Annie's Homegrown 2014
2. Immaculate Baking 2013
3. Food Should Taste Good 2012
4. LaraBar 2008
5. Cascadian Farm 1999
6. Muir Glen 1998

10. M&M Mars

2012 revenue: $110 billion

1. Seeds of Change 1997

11. Coca-Cola

2012 revenue: $105.15 billion

1. Green Mountain Coffee 2013
2. Honest Tea 2011
3. Odwalla 2001

12. ConAgra and Ralcorp

2012 revenue: $103.24 billion

1. Alexia Foods 2007
2. Lovin Oven 2007
3. Bloomfield Bakers 2007

13. Kellogg

2012 revenue: $95.39 billion

1. Wholesome & Hearty 2007
2. Bear Naked 2007
3. Kashi 2000
4. Morningstar Farms and Natural Touch1999

16. Miller-Coors

2012 revenue: $77.61 billion

1. Crispin 2012
2. Fox Barrel 2010

19. Mondelez

2012 revenue: $69.03 billion

1. Green & Black's 2010
2. Boca Foods 2000

20. Hershey Foods

2012 revenue: $66.44 billion

1. Dagoba 2006

22. Bimbo Bakeries

2012 revenue: $6.062 million

1. Olafson's Baking 2014

24. J.M. Smucker

2012 revenue: $58.98 billion

1. Enray 2013
2. Millstone 2008
3. Santa Cruz Organic 1989
4. R.W. Knudsen 1984

29. Campbell Soup

2012 revenue: $41.1 billion

1. Plum Organics 2013
2. Bolthouse Farms 2012
3. Wolfgang Puck 2008

30. Hillshire Brands

2012 revenue: $39.64 billion

1. Van's Natural Foods 2014
2. Aidell's Sausage 2011

31. Perdue Farms

2012 revenue: $3.86 million

1. Coleman Natural 2011
2. Draper Valley Farms 2007
3. Hans 2003
4. Petaluma, Rosie 2002

40. Rich Products

2012 revenue: $25 billion

1. French Meadow 2006

45. Foster Farms

2012 revenue: $22 billion

1. Humboldt Creamery 2009

46. TreeHouse Foods

2012 revenue: $21.82 billion

1. Sturm Foods 2009

52. White-Wave

2012 revenue: $19.37 billion

1. So Delicious 2014
2. Earthbound Farm 2013
3. Horizon 2004
4. Silk 2002
5. Alta Dena 1999
6. The Organic Cow of Vermont 1999

65. Snyder's-Lance

2012 revenue: $16.19 billion

1. Late July 2007

68. Dannon

2012 revenue: $15.45 billion

1. Happy Family 2013
2. Stonyfield 2004
3. Brown Cow 2003

83. Hain Celestial

2012 revenue: $992 million

1. Rudi's Organic Bakery 2014
2. Ella's Kitchen 2013
3. BluePrint 2012
4. SunSpire 2008
5. MaraNatha 2008
6. TofuTown 2007
7. Spectrum Organics 2005
8. Walnut Acres 2003
9. Imagine, Rice Dream and Soy Dream2002
10. ShariAnn's 2001
11. Mountain Sun 2001
12. Millina's Finest 2001
13. Frutti di Bosco 2001
14. Celestial Seasonings 2000
15. Earth's Best 1999
16. Breadshop 1999
17. Health Valley 1999
18. Casbah 1999
19. Nile Spice 1998
20. DeBole's 1998
21. Arrowhead Mills 1998
22. Garden of Eatin' 1998
23. Westbrae 1997
24. Little Bear 1997
25. Bearitos 1997
26. Westsoy 1997

85. Post Foods

2012 revenue: $959 million

1. MOM Brands, Malt-O-Meal and BetterOats 2015
2. Michael Foods 2014
3. PowerBarPria 2014
4. Golden Boy 2013
5. Dakota Growers Pasta 2013
6. New Morning 2012
7. Erewhon 2012
8. Golden Temple 2010
9. Peace Cereal 2010
10. Willamette Valley Granola 2010

89. Diamond Foods

2012 revenue: $899 million

1. Kettle 2010

94. J&J Snack Foods

2012 revenue: $831 million

1. Kim & Scott's 2012

SOURCE: Food Processing, Phil Howard. Published May 1, 2015..

People within the industry debate whether the entrance of the big companies could tarnish the ideals of a movement opposed to the conventional foods those firms produce. Moreover, some worry that shoppers may be too easily fooled into thinking that some of the quaintly named organic labels, now owned by a big conventional company, is still managed by its organic founders.

"Some of these big companies go out of their way to hide their ties to the organic labels," said Phil Howard, an associate professor at Michigan State University, who has tracked the changes, and provided them to The Washington Post. "They know that consumers tend to be skeptical of the corporations, that a person who buys organic is often someone looking for an alternative to conventional food."

Howard says the influx of money from conventional food companies has brought good and bad.

"It's easier than ever to access foods," he said, "and the prices have come down. On the other hand, there is continual pressure to weaken the national organic standards to increase profits - and the big companies have the clout to do that."

To be sure, attendees at the semi-annual meetings that define organic still include plenty of small farmers. But the large conventional companies have a presence, too, and within the industry, the value of the transformation is debated.

Myra Goodman, who with her husband founded the major organic label Earthbound Farm in 1984, argued in a TED talk last year that the growth has benefited everyone. She spoke just a few months after it was announced that Earthbound Farm would be sold to dairy producer WhiteWave Foods for $600 million.

"We don't want organic to be an exclusive club," she told the audience. "The benefits of organic farming are just too huge."

Noting that only about 4 percent of food sales go to organic products, she said that "the organic industry is way too small."

"Sadly, less than 1 percent of our farmland is organic - that means about 99 percent is still awash in conventional agricultural chemicals," she said.

Others, however, have warned that the arrival of conventional food companies could change the industry.

Nature's Path, a large family-run label, is one of the largest organic companies to continue to rebuff corporate investors. Arjan Stephens, the son of the founders and a company vice president, said the family has been dismayed at times by the acquisition of organic brands by conventional food companies.

"We have witnessed the sale of numerous organic brands to big food and have also seen how many of those brands have struggled to retain their soul," he said. "While we support the growth of the organic industry, the purchase of many independent brands has come at a price. . . . [T]he long-term effect often comes with a diluted product line, a change in company values . . . and decisions based solely on profits not people."