The regular Silk soymilk package now does not have the organic label. And also
after looking at the following, I am not sure if Silk is good anymore:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/a..._18228.cfm
Commitment to Organics and Sustainability:
1. Recently, Dean Foods reformulated their Silk product line converting almost all their products to "natural" (conventional) soybeans. They did this, quietly, without telling retailers or changing the UPC code numbers on the products. Many retailers have reported to us that they didn't find out about the change until their customers noticed and complained.
2. To add insult to injury, not only did the price of Silk products not go down when they switched to cheaper conventional soybeans, but they now reintroduced three products with organic soybeans and raised the price on those. Greedy profiteering plain and simple.
3. Dean Foods tells its customers that it partners with Conservation International to source soybeans that are produced in a sustainable, socially responsible and ethical manner. Dean Foods has not made these standards of sustainability available to its customers-unlike the USDA organic standards, customers have no way of accessing their exact definition of sustainability, which remains unclear. We question why they do not simply purchase USDA-certified organic soybeans.
Production with a Neurotoxic Chemical:
1. Silk's Light soymilk, as well as its "Heart Health" soymilk, is made with hexane-extracted soy flour instead of whole soybeans. Hexane is a highly explosive volatile solvent. It is a byproduct of gasoline refining and a neurotoxin. Soybeans used in Silk's Light and Heart Health soymilk are immersed in this neurotoxic petrochemical to make soy flour, which is listed as the main ingredient in these Silk products.
2. Hexane is classified as a "hazardous air pollutant" by the Environmental Protection Agency and emissions are regulated for their contribution to air pollution. Food processors are the country's major hexane emitters. When The Cornucopia Institute sent samples of hexane-extracted soy flour to an independent lab for residue testing, residues as high as 21 parts per million were found. The effects on consumer health of repeated and long-term consumption of hexane-extracted soy ingredients have not been thoroughly studied. An extraction process that does not involve hexane is available, but using hexane is cheaper for the processor.
3. Silk's creamers and Silk Plus Omega-3 DHA contain other minor hexane-extracted ingredients-soy lecithin and algal oil, respectively. Moreover, the Cornucopia Institute has received reports from parents of toddlers and children who experienced diarrhea and stomach upset from the DHA used in Silk (Life's DHA by Martek Biosciences Corporation). This is the same additive, found in infant formula (extracted from algae and soil fungus), that has been linked to severe adverse reactions in infants. (Cornucopia has obtained adverse reaction reports from the FDA verifying this unfortunate health side-effect.) The FDA has never tested the safety of Life's DHA, relying instead on safety data supplied by the same corporation that has a financial interest in selling and placing these additives in foods. The FDA did, however, indicate serious reservations regarding the safety of these additives.
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