The Grazing Mind

The nation’s largest Natural Products Expo is set to kick things off in Anaheim tomorrow with an expected 50,000+ attendees and 2,000+ exhibiting companies.  That means over a three day period (March 11-13), there’s going to be a whole lot of people eating, drinking and collecting all the free samples and tchotchkes handed out by those 2000+ booths. And while every exhibitor probably feels like their tchotchke is worth keeping, it’s unfortunately not the case… which means there’s also going to be a whole lot of trash. But, with the help of our friends at New Hope Natural Media, we’ve got a number of green initiatives lined up to hopefully help offset all that waste, and reduce energy use as well. Check out a few of the highlights:

• Waste reduction: We’re providing reusable water bottles for retailer attendees in lieu of disposable plastic bottles, and will also sponsor water stations throughout the convention center for water bottle refills.

• Sponsoring recycling stations: Attendees will find recycling stations throughout the venue in an effort to mitigate the amount of waste produced at the show.

• Offsetting energy use: All of the energy used at the show, and at the two host hotels will be offset by the purchase of carbon credits and renewable energy certificates from Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF – we’ve mentioned them before on this blog).

There’s also going to be a good contingent of WhiteWavers in Anaheim, so if you’re planning on going to the show be sure to stop by our booth #2136. And if you’re in the mood for cake, swing by on Friday afternoon to help our Horizon brand celebrate its 20th anniversary.

If you’re not attending the show, keep an eye on our twitter feed for live updates and images from the  floor. And as always, feel free to share your own thoughts or pictures via the comments below, or on our Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The New Year often sparks a time for reflection. Even if you don’t formally claim resolutions, you may find yourself talking about things you want to do more or less of, or things you want to change. I’ve often wondered why this happens. What is it about this time of year that drives us to think about things so differently?

Obviously, there’s the simple fact of the new calendar year. Over the holidays, I heard my relatives explaining to their kids that December 31 is like celebrating the Earth’s birthday. I really like that analogy, and perhaps we consider it a time to work on ourselves in some way, whereas a birthday is simply a time to celebrate.

In thinking about my resolutions, I think my biggest one is trying new things, whether it’s a new activity, new recipes or new places to explore. I think companies often take advantage of this time of year to try new things, too. Here at WhiteWave, we are offering some exciting new products launching from various brands:

• Horizon is now offering Fat Free Milk Plus Omega-3 DHA – the first and only on the market! DHA Omega-3 is a long-chain omega-3 fatty acid that has been shown in a number of scientific studies to be important for proper brain and eye function for infants and children, healthy heart function for both children and adults and brain function for adults.

• Horizon single serve organic milk boxes will now have less sugar (at 22 or 23 g per serving) less fat and fewer calories. The change is possible by switching from 2% organic reduced fat milk to 1% organic lowfat milk.

• Silk Pure Coconut is another example of the innovation Silk is proud to bring to the dairy alternative category. Available in Original and Vanilla, Pure Coconut provides 50% more calcium than typical dairy milk, and 25% of your recommended daily value of vitamin D, which is just as much as milk.

• Silk Pure Almond is now available in Unsweetened, with just 40 calories per serving! Not only can you try something new, but this is a great option for cutting calories if that’s also in your New Year’s plan.

• Fruit2Day is now available in a large size portion, offering more value to consumers. Both Mango Peach and Strawberry Orange are available in this new, 28-oz. size. Try this new way to eat fruit today.

Cheers to embracing the New Year by trying new things!

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that it’s wrong to regift… especially when it can win you $500 bucks.

Check out the contest our Silk brand is running – all you have to do is load a photo or story of the best thing you’ve ever regifted, or plan to regift and you could have 500 more reasons to be thankful this holiday season.

Hop on over to their Facebook page to enter.

A few weeks ago, we talked about Silk’s decision to add some natural products to its portfolio. The post led to a lively discussion on our Facebook page, which generated a few additional questions and concerns that we’d like to address here.

So first off, what does “Natural” really mean?

There is no unified definition or regulation of what “natural” means in the food industry, so we created our own strict definition for our products. To Silk, The term “natural” means all the soybeans used in our products aren not genetically modified in any way. From seed to carton, our beans are put through four testing procedures to ensure they are GMO-free. And just yesterday we announced that Silk is officially part of the Non-GMO Project’s Product Verification Program. The Non-GMO Project is the nation’s first system designed to test whether a product has met defined standards for the presence of GMOs, providing third party verification that the best practices of GMO avoidance are in use. - you’ll start seeing their logo on our packaging soon. And again, we still offer organic options in three of our most popular flavors – original, vanilla and unsweetened.

Great, but why can’t I find your organic options at my grocery store?

If you can’t find Silk Organic at your usual haunt (or any other product for that matter), you have a few options. 1. Talk to the store manager, and ask them to start carrying the products you want. We unfortunately can’t control who carries what, but you (the one spending money at the store) can. 2. Check out our product locater. We sell three times as much organic soymilk as all of our competitors combined, so chances are, there’s a store nearby that has what you’re looking for.

How can I be sure that your beans are sourced from farms in the U.S.

Currently, you have to take our word for it. Not good enough? We absolutely agree. By the end of this year, we will provide you with complete traceability regarding the source of our soybeans. You’ll be able to take your Silk cartons, enter a number into our website and track where the beans were grown and harvested.

Stay tuned to The Grazing Mind for updates on all our products.