10 Health Food Brands That Are Owned By Giant Corporations Slideshow
Alexia Foods: Owned by ConAgra Foods
ConAgra is a food industry giant that owns brands such as Swiss Miss, Kid Cuisine, Hebrew National, and Slim Jim. Its portfolio lacked anything truly healthy until it acquired Alexia Foods in 2012. Alexia is a natural frozen food company that offers premium side dishes a step above typical freezer fare.
Annie’s Homegrown: Owned by General Mills
In 2014, General Mills purchased Annie's for $820 million. General Mills has greatly expanded Annie's offerings to feature snacks and salad dressings. It also acquired a number of other health food brands such as LARABAR, Food Should Taste Good, and EPIC Provisions.
Bolthouse Farms: Campbell Soup Company
Campbell Soup Company purchased healthy juice-maker Bolthouse Farms in 2012 for $1.55 billion. Ever since the acquisition, Bolthouse Farms has become ubiquitous in grocery stores across the country.
Earthbound Farm: Owned by WhiteWave Foods
As a spin-off of Dean Foods, WhiteWave is a new company that has been riding the trend of non-dairy milks and desserts with its line of Silk soy milks and So Delicious dairy-free ice cream. Earthbound Farms was one of the first industrial organic operations and has been criticized by other organic farmers for being a sellout. WhiteWave purchased the California-based company for $600 million in 2013, and now you can find its prewashed, organic salad mixes everywhere.
Glutino and Udi’s Gluten Free: Owned by Pinnacle Foods
In 2015, Pinnacle Foods acquired Boulder Brands for $975 million. The acquisition gave the company not only gluten-free brands Glutino and Udi but also Evol frozen foods and Earth Balance spreads. Pinnacle was desperate to enter the healthy food space because some of its other brands, such as Hungry-Man, Aunt Jemima, and Celeste Pizza, were skewed toward the unhealthier side.
Justin’s Nut Butter: Owned by Hormel Foods
Just this year, Hormel Foods bought Justin's, the maker of organic peanut butter cups and elaborate nut butter creations, for $286 million. This is the most recent example of a multinational food corporation acquiring a lesser known but promising company in the natural/organics space. Hormel also owns Spam, Not-So-Sloppy-Joe, Skippy Peanut Butter and Muscle Milk.
Kashi: Owned by Kellogg Company
Kellogg Company purchased Kashi in 2000, but the company had been run independently until 2013. Kashi appears to be the antithesis of Kellogg's usual sugary cereals, but maybe this is why Kashi has been such a huge success. The brand recently came under fire for false claims of "natural" ingredients (a loose term by Food and Drug Administration standards) when the company was found to be using genetically engineered ingredients.
Naked Juice: Owned by PepsiCo
PepsiCo purchased Naked Juice in 2006 as a response to Coca-Cola's purchase of Odwalla. PepsiCo was anticipating that customers would shy away from sodas and sugary juices, and it was right. Soda consumption has been declining in America since 2000. Naked Juice bolsters PepsiCo's natural food lineup that already includes Sabra Hummus and Stacy's Pita Chips.
Santa Cruz Organic: Owned by The J.M. Smucker Company
Santa Cruz Organic looks like a laid-back juice company from California. The packaging is tasteful, the bottle is glass... Who would've guessed it's owned by the parent company of Crisco and Smucker's Uncrustables?
ZICO Coconut Water: Owned by Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola fully acquired ZICO Coconut Water, the second leading brand in the coconut water space, in 2013, only a year after purchasing a majority stake in the company. This addition bolstered Coke's natural foods lineup, which already included Odwalla, Simply Orange, Honest Tea, and Vitaminwater.