Those of you who are following what’s going on in the “green” world these days know that things haven’t been all sunshine and happy trees and unicorns recently.  A number of “natural” household cleansers and bodycare products were found by the Organic Consumers Association to contain carcinogenic 1,4-dioxane.  Supposedly safe Nalgene plastic bottles turned out to off-gas teratogenic bisphenol-A (and Sigg brand aluminum bottles, touted as for some reason as a safe replacement for the Nalgene, use bisphenol-A-containing liners!)  It’s been clear for a while that many organic farmers farm to the letter of the organic law, contemptuous of its spirit.  “Green” gasoline alternatives may pollute more than the real stuff, the city of Cambridge sends its paper to China to be recycled[1], and meanwhile, I can be fined for leaving my apple core in the park.  

Sure, there are still the small local farmers, bakers, and herbalists who refresh the values of the movement[2].  But on a national and international level, more and more big businesses are elbowing their ways in, or buying the venerable old companies that have made us proud for decades.  And more often than not, they just don’t care about natural or organic, or health, or the environment, other than as a marketing tool to sell you more product.

And then there’s Eden, which happens to be in Michigan.

Eden Foods was the first national company to have a no-GMO policy, well before anyone even knew what a GMO was.  (It’s a genetically modified organism, incidentally).  Back four or five years ago, when vanilla prices went through the roof, they were the only national soymilk company that continued to use real vanilla, instead of vanilla flavor.  Page, who is retired to California now, but who spent 15 years with the store, loved to point out that Eden canned beans may cost 20 cents more than the competition – but they always gave you more beans, and less water.  (They also add a tiny bit of seaweed, to make the beans less gassy).  Eden has always been a class act.

(Jim, the store’s manager, who’s been doing this way longer than I have, remembers back when Eden was the first company to introduce soymilk.  They originally came out in single-serve packets, because nobody thought people would want larger containers of this luxury-priced item, when cow’s milk was so cheap!)

And now that bisphenol-A is becoming a big issue, Eden’s commitment to what’s right (as opposed to just jumping on the “right thing to do” bandwagon) becomes apparent once again.  All these years, Eden beans have been canned without bisphenol-A.  They have the cans specially made, just for them. The cans cost an extra 13 cents a piece.  It costs Eden roughly an extra $500,000 a year to do this.

From a business perspective, this would be a wise investment if Eden had turned around, made a big deal of it, advertised, promoted, touted how very good and responsible they were being, and used it to sell more beans, for more money.  But they never did.  They never really told anyone.  They just did the right thing.  Because it was right. 

And if all that sounds good to you, and you want in, know that Eden is not publicly traded.  Nearly three decades after it was founded, Eden is still family-owned.  And the largest organic food company in the U.S.  Good stuff. 

... Adam Stark