Sara Lee Presents "Eco-Grain™" - The Wheat That's Just a Little Bit More Sustainable Than Ordinary!

Folks in the organic grain and organic baking worlds are mightily upset at corporate baking giant Sara Lee this week. The company has launched an expensive media campaign to sell its new "sustainable" breads made using the company's Eco-Grain™.

Why the outrage? Because Eco-Grain™ is being advertised as a true alternative (and maybe even a superior one) to organic grain, despite some clear problems with this argument. For one thing, Eco-Grain™ is still grown and processed using loads of chemicals that wouldn't pass muster in the organic world. For another, even the Sara Lee products that use the new grain only contain about 20% of the new variety, with the difference being good old conventionally grown stuff.

Here's what to do: don't buy the new bread. I guarantee it will cost more than ordinary bread, though it will undoubtedly undercut true organic products. What you'll get for your money is bread that is basically identical to conventional Sara Lee loaves and has the added bonus of threatening the economic viability of real organic products, which won't be able to compete on cost.

Cornucopia Institute's rant, here.