How Does Your Soymilk Rank?

Eden Foods is the only 5-Bean-rated company that sells its products nationwide and internationally. All EdenSoy® products-made from Eden's soymilk-contain 100% U.S./Canadian-grown organic soybeans. Eden Foods was fully transparent in their disclosure of where their ingredients are sourced. Names and phone numbers of organic farmers were immediately given upon request; Eden Foods' claim that it has long-standing relationships with its farmers was confirmed by follow-up research. The company is also highly committed to using only pure, real-food ingredients in its soymilk, such as vanilla extract and cocoa powder instead of natural flavors agents. Eden Foods is one of the few companies that performs testing for GEO (genetically engineered organisms) contamination on every load of incoming soybeans.

Vermont Soy is an excellent choice for soymilk and tofu for people living in New England and New York. This relatively new company, which started selling fresh organic soymilk in 2007, is working with Vermont farmers to reach its goal of sourcing exclusively Vermont-grown organic soybeans. Before they reach this goal of 100% Vermont-grown, they will source a small amount of organic soybeans from farmers in neighboring Quebec. Vermont Soy is also committed to using only real-food ingredients, flavoring its soymilk with real vanilla extract and fair-trade cocoa powder. Vermont Soy is unique in that it "gently pasteurizes" its soymilk, as opposed to the high-heat or ultra-high-heat pasteurization that is common with other commercially available soymilk brands. While "gentle" pasteurization gives their soymilk a slightly shorter shelf-life, it also means that it undergoes a less intense processing procedure.

Also at the top of our scorecard, in the 5-Bean category, are a number of small, independently owned "artisan" tofu and soymilk makers that buy soybeans directly from American organic farmers. These tofu makers pride themselves in handcrafting tofu in small batches, resulting in tofu that is, as they describe it, far superior in taste and quality compared to tofu that is mass produced. They are also committed to vegetarian values.

Small Planet Tofu is based in Washington state and calls itself the "Microbrew of Tofu." Its tofu is available in stores in western states. Small Planet Tofu is serious about supporting American organic farmers and has bought soybeans from the same American farmers for the past 17 years.

FarmSoy is a family-owned business in Tennessee. Its tofu is available in Fresh Market stores in various parts of the country, including the Southeast and Midwest. The company buys directly from family farmers and handcrafts the tofu.

Twin Oaks produces tofu, tempeh, and soymilk at the Twin Oaks intentional community in rural Virginia. Its products are available on the East Coast. This worker-owned cooperative buys organic soybeans directly from an organic family farm in Virginia, reducing the carbon footprint of their soybeans by buying so close to home.

In Canada, Unisoya sells tofu in the eastern provinces. Unisoya is owned by two brothers who grow their own organic soybeans on 400 acres. This company therefore falls in a category of its own: these owners do not buy directly from organic family farmers, they are organic family farmers. Footprint Foods sells tofu and tempeh in Canada under the Green Cuisine® brand. It is a family-owned company that buys Canadian-grown organic soybeans from a broker who identified Canadian farmers who grow the soybeans that are used in Green Cuisine's products. Even though this company does not buy directly from family farmers, its supplier participated and the soybeans could be traced to the farms in Canada where they were grown.

Image: winnond / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I will not list all the information about the brands in the 4 bean through 2 bean categories, but I will list the brands listed in each category and then you can go see what the Cornucopia Institute says about each in their full Report and the Scorecard:

4 Bean:
Miso Master by Great Eastern Sun.
Baby's Only Organic by Nature's One.
Fresh Tofuby Fresh Tofu Inc.
Organic Valley by CROPP Cooperative.
Sunergia by Sunergia Soyfoods.
Tofurky by Turtle Island Foods.
Whole Soy by Whole Soy & Co.
House Foods by House Foods.
Lifeway by Lifeway Foods.
Central Soyfoods by Central Soyfoods.
Nasoya by Vitasoy USA.
Wildwood by Pulmuone Wildwood Inc.
Soy Boy by Northern Soy Inc.
365 by Whole Foods Market.
Nancy's by Springfield Creamery.

3 Bean:
O'Soy by Stonyfield Farms.
Vitasoy by Vitasoy USA.
Pete's Tofu by Sunrise Soya Foods.
Harris Teeter private label by Harris Teeter.

2 Bean:
Trader Joe's private label by Trader Joe's.

Image credit: alibaba.com

Why are some well-known companies rated at the bottom of the scorecard? Because these companies refused to share the
answers to the questions on which the scorecard is based.

When The Cornucopia Institute asked if they were willing to share information freely with their customers and be rated objectively in comparison to other organic companies producing similar foods, they were reluctant. They may share a story on their web site to help satisfy their customer's desire for knowing the pedigree of their food, they apparently do not want to share the whole story, as Cornucopia's survey and follow-up fact-checking require.

One-Bean companies source at least some of their organic soybeans from American family farmers. The companies did not disclose this
information; this information is based on Cornucopia research. Zero-Bean companies did not disclose any information, and our research was unable to confirm whether they purchase any organic soybeans from North American family farmers or depended on questionable imports.

Pacific Natural Foods is one example. On their packages, they have a "Certified to the Source" seal, and their web site explains that this program is "an ambitious endeavor to want to trace the origin of every single ingredient we use in our foods. [We] figured if we were interested in knowing, so were our customers." Pacific Natural Foods' web site also has a video titled "We believe we should know where our food comes from," but other than sharing the sourcing of their organic bell peppers, the Pacific Natural Foods web site does not share sourcing information for any other ingredient in its products. On the web page for its organic soymilk, Pacific Natural Foods writes that "We are very picky about our soybeans." Cornucopia's research indicates that Pacific Natural Foods purchased close to half a million kilograms of organic soybeans from China in the past year. When asked simply to name the organic certifier of the farms where their Chinese organic soybeans are grown, Pacific Natural Foods did not respond. When asked if Pacific Natural Foods would share with us the name of the third-party certifier for their "Certified to the Source" program, they were silent. This raises the question of whether this program is in fact third-party certified, or simply a marketing gimmick.

Vitasoy USA, makers of Vitasoy® soymilk and Nasoya® tofu, refused to participate in our scorecard project. Our research indicates that they purchase organic soybeans directly from American organic farmers in the Midwest, but they also purchased approximately 200,000 kilograms of organic soybeans and 100,000 kilograms of organic tofu from China.

Westsoy and SoyDream® are two soymilk brands owned by the Hain Celestial Group. Westsoy started out as a small company, Westbrae Natural Foods, when a pair of idealistic students opened a coffeehouse in Berkeley. One of the foods they offered was imported soymilk from Japan. In 1997, the Hain Celestial Group, a multi-million-dollar publicly traded company that owns many natural and organic food brands, acquired Westsoy. The Hain Celestial Group also owns Soy-Dream. Hain Celestial did not respond to The Cornucopia Institute's requests for participation in the scorecard study, and it refused to share its sourcing information. They also own Earth's Best, a baby food and infant formula brand, for which they also did not share any sourcing or production information.

Another brand of soymilk that chose not to participate in our scorecard project was the industry's largest producer of soymilk, in addition to other soy products, Silk. WhiteWave, which markets Silk soymilk, is a subsidiary of Dean Foods. Dean Foods is the largest processor and distributor of dairy products in the United States, with $11 billion in sales in 2007.

Since Dean Foods acquired WhiteWave, its founder, Steve Demos, has left the company, along with almost all of the pioneering management-those who believed in "green" values.

Recently, WhiteWave claims on its web site that it sources all its soybeans from North American farmers. But the company refused to participate in the Cornucopia Organic Soy Scorecard project, not willing to share its sourcing information. Instead of lowering the cost of producing their soy products by sourcing raw materials from China, it now appears that they might be lowering their costs by purchasing conventional, non-GMO soybeans, switching over some of their product line from organic to "natural."

In January 2009, the familiar Silk soymilk cartons lost the green "USDA Organic" seal and now state "natural" where they once said "organic." The carton's design is the same, and many loyal Silk customers who associate the brand with organics may not be aware that they are now buying a nonorganic product. Silk's organic soymilk is now in a newly designed carton.

Unlike the use of the organic label on foods, the word "natural" is not stringently regulated. "Natural" soybeans in Silk soymilk may be produced on monoculture farms, using inputs such as synthetic fertilizers and pesticides that would be strictly prohibited in organic production. No government or third-party entity regulates the "natural" claim, so a "natural" soybean is essentially a conventional, nonorganic soybean. Silk claims that its soybeans are produced in a sustainable manner, but there is no accountability without the organic label. Their unwillingness to use certified organic soybeans apparently stems from the simple fact that nonorganic soybeans are much cheaper.

Image: winnond / FreeDigitalPhotos.net