CH 3: Ethics

As a vegetarian I'm absolutely smitten with Amy's Kitchen's organic health foods. It’s the largest vegetarian line of packaged foods on the market. I'm one of those label-readers in the grocery store but because of Amy's undeniable charm I've let down my guard. "Organic", "All Natural Ingredients", "No Bio-engineered Ingredients", "Made with organic vegetables & grains", are all labels that can be found proudly on Amy's products. When I first fell for Amy's I was attracted to this packaging and started out reading all of the ingredients. I wouldn't be so bold to say that I'm an educated food consumer but I do possess quite a bit of common sense and after years of reading labels I tend to stay away from foods that contain ingredients that sound like chemicals, i.e. "glutamic acid". So I ASSUMED that all of Amy's products are chemical free and stopped reading the ingredients on the back of the box. That's any food company's dream consumer, a fully trusting one. I was silly to put my health in the hands of a food corporation.

I've recently discovered that some of (but not many) of Amy's products contain an ingredient called yeast extract. Yeast extract is a processed yeast product used as a "flavoring additive". Yeast extract contains glutamic acid which is also found in monosodium glutamate, more commonly known as MSG, and causes the same health problems. The effects from MSG can range from migraine headaches and dizziness to according to doctors like Russell Blaylock, author of Excitotoxins, may aggravate or precipitate many neurological disorders and cause harm to the nervous system. Looking a little further I've also found that another ingredient used by Amy's is hydrolyzed corn and soy protein which almost always contains MSG or creates MSG during processing.

Amy's is a company that targets vegetarians, the diet-restricted, and health conscious consumers. As the leading producer of packaged "health foods" they carry the huge responsibility of being "HEALTHY". That's what consumers expect when they buy Amy's products. A response to an article written about the matter, ("How I got blindsided by yeast extract in Amy's Kitchen organic foods" by: Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, Natural News Editor) can be found here: http://www.naturalnews.com/021674.html. This article received a large amount of reader feedback. Bill Twieg, the Technical Director of Amy's Kitchen, responded by explaining that Amy's Kitchen is committed to serving a health conscious community and that they would work on eliminating yeast extract from their products. Amy's full response can be found here: http://www.naturalnews.com/021651.html.

Amy's has always fully disclosed all of its ingredients on their packaging, no secrets. Amy's customers demand not only healthy food but FLAVOR and Amy's has delivered both to a great extent. The challenge remains to find a balance. Amy's is less than perfect but they are striving for this balance. Their response to people’s concerns showed that they are willing to work to satisfy their customer’s needs. Amy's standards are high and their performance represents that. Well it's back to the back of the box for me and for many, still loyal, Amy's customers.