Dean Foods and Product Sources
A concerned customer asked us a great question about product sources in the wake of the recent Dean Foods decision. Learn more below!
Customer Question
I agree with the Board’s decision to boycott Dean Foods.
My round trip drive to your closest store is an hour and a half. Consequently, sometimes I have to shop at my nearest grocer which is a 40 minute round trip, and where I’ve been buying their store branded organic soy milk. Since reading about Dean Foods, I have emailed [this company] asking who makes their soy milk, but haven’t received a response. Is there a source where I can see who makes what for whom?
Co-op Response
I have made some attempts to find a source of information on who makes what for which private label. However, companies are very private about who actually provides their private label products. The language used on the website of the company you mention is meant to make you think they produce it themselves:
- We manufacture to the strictest quality standards and we require that all of our suppliers be certified for using safe food handling procedures.
- Our products are monitored and approved by the U.S.D.A. (United States Department of Agriculture).
- We rigorously test each items quality in our own test kitchens or independent laboratories to ensure we’re matching the performance of comparable national brands.
I suspect that the providers also do not want that information shared. If you knew that a private label yogurt was exactly the same as your favorite national brand but cost less, you wouldn’t buy the national brand.
I wish I could give you a more definitive answer, but I don’t believe that is possible. The website chow.com has taken on one store’s private label, but all they can do is make best-guess comparisons to name brands.
—Rosemary Fifield, Director of Education and Member Services
