Dive Brief:
- Kellogg’s Kashi brand announced Tuesday its involvement in a new program called Certified Transitional, which is issued by Quality Assurance International. The program supports farmers who are making the transition from conventional farming to growing more organic crops.
- Kashi has contracted to buy hard red winter wheat under the program, which will be used in its Dark Cocoa Karma Shredded Wheat Biscuits cereal. The QAI Certified Transitional logo appears on food packages that contain at least 51% transitional ingredients.
- The announcement comes at a time when consumers are confused by many food labels, and when Kashi’s image continues to be under a microscope by consumers.
Dive Insight:
The number of products with better-for-you labels will continue to rise as the number of certified organic producers in the United States has increased by nearly 12% to 21,781 operations last year, continuing the sector's double-digit annual growth, according to the USDA.
The trend supports data where 68% of shoppers of all generations want to know where their food comes from, and 59% seek information about nutrition to determine their food choices, according to a survey conducted by SupermarketGuru for the National Potato Council.
On the surface, this data seems to support consumer interest in reading labels. They trust third-party certifications over marketing hype. However, with a glut of labels being issued by different organizations, how can manufacturers ensure their message is getting across, and that the labels won’t confuse consumers?
One positive is that earning certification isn’t just a matter of adding a label to products when making the move from conventionally produced ingredients to producing organic ingredients. The supply chain process requires an overhaul of ingredient sourcing, which for farmers, typically means a three-year gap in production while soil recovers from pesticides, according to GreenBiz.
Kashi’s officials told GreenBiz that by embracing the lag time instead of cutting losses in the three-year transition to organic status, the company will help the economics for companies seeking more inventory, and for farmers who face short-term financial challenges while converting to organic farming. Challenges come in getting all the members of the supply chain on the same page, as well as gaging sales while in the transition period. There are also issues in achieving scale, since companies like Kashi lean toward obscure ingredients.