Sustainable is Good | Where design, lifestyle and packaging meet

Maine's Own Organic Milk MOO Milk Gains Support

After a group of nine Maine Organic Dairy farm families were dropped by their previous milk processor H.P. Hood they banded together to form Maine's Own Organic Milk (MOO Milk for short) and sell their product direct to grocery stores.

The new company has been having a tough time getting their product into stores since forming last year.  But recently has had some key successes and gotten national exposure thanks to a piece in the New York Times last week.   The young company still needs the support of locals and food lovers who want to buy organic milk and support local farmers.

MOO Milk is available in many Hannaford grocery stores in Maine and fifteen Whole Foods stores in Maine and Massachusetts.  Their milk is also available at Harvest Co-Op in Boston.

MOO Milk reminded me of a similar cooperative here in Rhode Island called RhodyFresh which is a group of Rhode Island dairy farmers who banded together several years ago to save what was becoming a dying industry in the Ocean State.  Rhody Fresh milk has become a great success and enjoyed tremendous community support.

The farmers in Maine who formed MOO Milk face one primary challenge that Rhode Island farmers didn't have to contend with and that is distance their milk must travel in order to reach a processing center for distribution.

The group is working to overcome these challenges and with the recent addition of their products in Whole Foods stores in Massachusetts they are tapping into a large market.

Farmer Aaron Bell and Carly DelSignore's dairy farm in Washington County Maine.  The couple is determined to keep the dairy industry alive in the county. 

Photo from the Chase's Organic Dairy Farm in Mapleton, Maine.  Chase's is part of the MOO Milk group.

Photo of the line of retail milk products from MOO Milk.  Packaged in standard carton packaging.

 

Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Bars US vs UK Packaging

I saw this story on Fooducate and had been meaning to write about it here on SISG.  Its really interesting to see from a packaging and product perspective the differences on this product.  In an age when companies are looking for ways to reduce and streamline production costs its so interesting to me that Kellogg's would go to the trouble to produce two totally different versions of this staple item.  Why wouldn't Kellogg's just produce one version for sale in its markets using the natural dyes?

Take a look at the two packages for Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain cereal bars. One is made here for us. The other is made in the UK for Europeans. Both use food coloring to achieve a more “strawberry-ish” color.

In the UK, the coloring is achieved using beetroot. But in the US, the coloring is Red No. 40, a dye that has been associated with hyperactivity, and some types of cancer.

Why not use the beetroot? The answer is that Kellogg’s probably saves half a penny on each bar using an artificial dye rather than using a natural one.

So why does Kellogg’s use the beets in Europe? Because in Europe the regulator has required WARNING LABELS on products with Red 40. Just like cigarettes. Kellogg’s did the bottom line calculation and decided the loss in sales would cause much more damage than the savings on the food dye.

But in the US, the FDA has given red 40 a GRAS status (Generally recognized as Safe). The reason is one of approach:

In Europe manufacturers need to prove an ingredient is SAFE beyond a shadow of a doubt for it to be approved for use.

In the US researchers need to prove an ingredient is DANGEROUS beyond a shadow of a doubt for it to be banned.

via Fooducate

Innocent Orange Juice PET Carafe

Innocent juice in the UK often is on the forefront of clever more eco-friendly packaging which values good design. 

Innocent's latest packaging makeover is for its orange juice.  The packaging was designed by Family(and Friends) a design firm specializing in brand identity and packaging.

The new carafe design is made from 25% rPET and is due in stores in the UK this month in two sizes 900ml and 1.35L.