Trader Joe's Needs to Provide Greater Transparency on Where Organic Food Comes From

Like many sustainable foodies on a budget, I'm hooked on Trader Joe's. The market's tasty, frozen entrees like organic, vegetarian pizza and rice-and-bean burritos make up the majority of my lunchtime fare. And the store's low price tags on organic milk and cheeses make me never want to fork over my hard-earned paycheck to pricey grocers like Whole Foods again.

But despite years of shopping bliss, I've always held a nagging suspicion that my Hawaiian-themed, all-natural haven was too good to be true. And according to a recent story in Sustainable Industries, my worst fears may be correct. While Trader Joe's boasts a wide variety of organic products under its private label store brand, the company refuses to disclose where said organic items come from. A report from the Cornucopia Institute, a sustainable agriculture non-profit, showed that like most private label brands, organic milk sold under the Trader Joe's label doesn't reveal which dairies the company buys from. The same policy is true for any organic products sold under the Trader Joe's brand, from soy beans in soy milk and tofu to peanut butter to cheeses. Therefore when consumers purchase these items, they can't trace their food back any further than Trader Joe's shelves.

While the company claims it wants to keep its suppliers a secret to maintain a competitive edge, not disclosing where food comes from goes against one of the main tenets of the organic food movement. Organic isn't just about not using chemical pesticides and herbicides. It's about connecting consumers to the very farm their food comes from and broadening folks' knowledge on how agricultural goods are produced. That transparency ensures that shoppers are not only more educated, they can also act as watchdogs to make sure that organic food is being produced according to the highest sustainability standards. After all, milk cartons can feature a certain label, but how can consumers trust that organic seal if there's no accountability?

While Trader Joe's is a notoriously close-mouthed company, I'm hopeful that consumer demand will prompt the corporation to create a more transparent labeling process for its organic items. After Greenpeace pressured the store under its "Traitor Joe's" campaign, the grocer agreed to stock only sustainable seafood by the end of 2012. Also responding to consumer demand, Trader Joe's claims it now only carries cage-free eggs and eliminated all GMO foods from its shelves (though there is no third-party auditor that corroborates this practice).

The only way to ensure organic food actually comes from sustainably and ecologically managed operations is to know exactly which farms the brand buys from. Tell Trader Joe's it needs to create greater transparency in its labeling process. Sign our petition asking that the store disclose where it sources its organic products.

Photo Credit: Francinegirvin via Wikimedia Commons