Feb. 27--Sara Lee's EarthGrains brand has launched an "environmentally friendly" line of bread with a marketing blitz that describes itself as a "plot to save the earth, one field at a time."
But not everyone buys Sara Lee's green credentials.
It's triggered a furor by critics who cite a claim by Sara Lee on its Web site -- since deleted -- that some wheat in its new EarthGrains Eco-Grains bread is more sustainably grown than organic wheat. It also alleged that organic farming "destroyed undeveloped land."
While the nation's second-biggest baker is busy clarifying its position, an organic watchdog group named the Cornucopia Institute blasted Sara Lee for "advertising malpractice" and "greenwashing" -- using questionable environmental claims to promote products.
Climate Counts, another watchdog group that fights global warming, says Sara Lee ties for last among 11 major food manufacturers rated on green practices. That's despite some improvements after paying a record $5.25 million settlement in 2003 because 57 of its 67 EarthGrains plants leaked ozone-depleting chemicals, said Wood Turner, the group's executive director.
EarthGrains plants in Dallas and Carrollton were among those cited by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Jon Harris, a Sara Lee spokesman, said his company has vastly changed since 2003, with numerous green initiatives around the world. Sara Lee acquired EarthGrains in 2001, inheriting problems from its previous management that were "quickly corrected," Harris said. "Sara Lee Corp. has not had a material environmental violation since the 2003 settlement," he added.
Sara Lee has launched a TV, radio, print and Internet ad campaign, harnessing Facebook and Twitter, to promote a "movement" where shoppers help the planet with every purchase of a loaf made with "Eco-Grains" wheat, its promotional materials say.
Sara Lee also acknowledges that the packaging for its "environmentally friendly" bread cannot be recycled by most curbside pickup programs. The company calls it an industrywide dilemma despite efforts to find a green alternative to plastic bags, which must be taken to special receptacles. Even then, less than 5 percent are estimated to be recycled.
Eco-Grains is a Sara Lee-trademarked name it gave to wheat grown in Idaho using precision agriculture. This approach includes satellite imagery and computer-guided application of fertilizer, herbicide and pesticide, aiming to avoid potentially harmful over-spraying while boosting yields. It's a hard white spring wheat sold by Horizon Milling, a Cargill affiliate, that can lighten and provide texture to typical whole wheat flours.
Idaho farmer Matt Mickelson says his fertilizer use has dropped 15 percent through precision growing, Sara Lee reported.
But Cargill said Mickelson and the four other Eco-Grain producers do not use no-till planting, the one precision technique that some soil experts say is superior to organic farming in terms of preventing soil erosion and runoff.
Only a fifth of the wheat in each loaf is Eco-Grains, but Sara Lee says that will increase.
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