Most of us students
conduct a majority of our grocery shopping at the local Kroger. I cook for
myself often, therefore I find myself at the store about once a week. I face
the common battle of wanting to buy high quality organic food, but at
the same time not breaking the bank. I have settled with the Kroger Simple
Truth product line, organic, healthy, and affordable (or so I thought).
Many of you will recognize
the label:
The labels commonly have
very earthy color schemes, fonts and images, utilizing words such as
"all-natural" "no additives" "cage-free"
"humanely raised," you get the point. Well recently it came to my
attention that none of these labeling techniques need to buy monitored or
approved by the FDA. The product line is also scattered
throughout the store, strategically placed next to competitors'
items. Unfortunately for all the other organic brands,
they must remain in their confined "healthy section" of each Kroger
store. Lastly, there are actually two different product lines: Simple
Truth and Simple Truth Organic, however, there is barely ANY of a difference in
labeling. This leaves room for Kroger to manipulate their customers and make
some big money.
Notice the difference?
So basically you might be
paying a premium price of around $3.00 for Simple Truth eggs, thinking they
are organic, when they are actually raised and produced the same exact way
as the rest of the generic Kroger brand eggs from Perdue chicken farms, which a
fraction of the price cheaper. The actual Simple Truth Organic eggs go for
around $4.00, which are the ones I purchase because I know they
are regulated and certified organic by the FDA.
In the past year, Kroger
faced a lawsuit claiming it deceived consumers by marketing a store brand as humanely
raised chicken products when the animals were raised under standard commercial
farming. The “Simple Truth” chicken products were packaged with labeling
that stated the animals were raised “in a humane environment” and “cage free,”
according to the lawsuit. However, standard industry practice for broiler
chickens is to house them inside large buildings, not cages, according to
industry experts. The “Simple Truth” chicken products are produced by
Perdue Farms-- infamous for the horrific raising practices and abundant use
of hormones and drugs pumped into their chicken feed.
I believe that all
animals should be treated humanely while being raised for
consumption, not just because I am an animal lover, but poor condition on farms
and the antibiotics, hormones, etc. that are fed to cows/pigs/chickens are
actually very detrimental to our health and contain immense lack of
nutritional value. Furthermore, Kroger should not be allowed to manipulate
the trust of their customers for their personal gain. Pay attention next time
you're near those green circles. Honestly, if it's not Simple Truth Organic,
purchasing the basic Simple Truth line isn't worth your money.
