Eden Organic ships pasta with known bad label for months

After last week's problem, now resolved, with Newman's Own Organics olive oil, I couldn't believe it when I found a much more important error on the label for Eden Organic Kamut Vegetable Spirals. Turns out that the label says the nutritional information is for a 1/2 cups serving, but it's really for a 1 cup serving.

My husband and I have been eating the serving size we use for all pasta, 3/4 cup, but were only getting 6 grams of protein instead of 12. Our daily allowance is 55 - 60 grams, so this is a 10% shortage ... enough to make a noticeable difference. That's why we've had the urge to snack on nuts after a meal made with this "high protein" pasta.

And I really couldn't believe it when Eden told me they've known about it for months, have not corrected their website, and refused to refund my money. They will be printing new boxes in a few weeks (no rush) and eventually the packaging will be accurate. Meanwhile, too bad about all those customers who are misinformed.

This means that I purchased at a premium price a pasta that claimed to be high in protein but in fact had half the protein per serving volume as labeled. I switched a few weeks ago from Whole Foods Organic Whole-Wheat Rotini to these spirals because I thought they had more protein, even though they cost more ($3.69 for 12 ounces compared to $1.79 for a pound).

Sue Potter, the EO marketing manager, says the company has known about this mislabeling since July 13th. They did not correct their website, which also had the incorrect information, until I asked them to yesterday. Sue wrote today:

Pasta box artwork is going through review and will be going to the printer in the next few weeks. Error will be corrected on the next printing. Please reply back to me an Eden food you would like to try (view all on the web site) and I will sent it to you at the Raleigh NC address along with retail 55¢ off coupons to use at retail stores.

I had requested a refund, but am being offered a coupon to buy more products with labels that I now doubt.

While it's true that the label also said a serving size is 55 grams, even manager Sue Potter said that few people would weigh rather than measure their pasta. When the purchasing decision is being made in the grocery store, the easiest comparison is cups to cups with other brands.

Why does this matter? As we discussed last week, food labels are required so customers can make informed purchases. Lots of people don't look at labels at all, but for some they are vitally important. In this case, I used the label to make sure my family was getting enough protein. Other families will use them to avoid allergic reactions or for other dietary or moral concerns. (No yogurt with gelatin for me, thanks.) In this economy, many families struggle with feeding their families on very limited budgets, so accurate nutritional information is essential.

And the way a company responds on a known issue gives you an idea of how they will respond on internal ones we can't guess at. I actually trust Newman's Own more now than I did before working with them about their label problem but will not be buying from Eden Organic again.

I'm very happy to have found this out before sending Wildly Affordable Organic to my publisher in a few weeks. My pasta recommendations will go back to being Barilla Plus or Whole Foods Organic Whole-Wheat Rotini. And I'm going to continue cooking as much of my food from scratch as possible to minimize the chances of being misled by a label.

Here's the contact page for Eden Organics if you'd like to let them know that you want them to provide truth in packaging. I'll be posting updates on this blog, such as any response I get from Whole Foods, where I bought the pasta.

[cross-posted on Daily Kos]

[update 1]Problem more widespread than thought Two days later, the Eden Organic site still lists 1/2 cup, 55 g serving sizes for Kamut & Buckwheat Rigatoni, Kamut & Quinoa Twisted Pairs, Kamut Ditalini, Kamut Elbows, and possibly more but I'm done checking. I notified them about this problem yesterday, but they should have fixed all the information on the website in July, when they say they first found out about the misleading labels.

I refused their offer of a 55-cent refund (!), saying:


[update 2] Problem partially addressed When I wrote to Eden Organic yesterday telling them a bout the additional problems on their website and refusing their offer of a 55 cent coupon (!) instead of a refund, I said:

I'm disappointed by this response. I'd asked for at least a refund for the mislabeled product I purchased. I would also expect you to notify the stores and customers of the problem. While it would be very expensive to recall the boxes, you could ask merchants to display a sticker with the correction. There are no doubt other ways of handling a problem like this, but misleading customers for months doesn't seem to be a good choice.

This "typo" caused me to serve several inadequate meals to my family. Fortunately, I have the luxury of having other food in the house, so when we were still hungry after dinner, we could have a snack, but not everyone can. This typo could cause vegetarians and vegans who are unwittingly 10% deficient in their daily protein allowance to return to meat....

FYI, here's how Newman's Own Organics handled a much smaller problem last week.

[update 3] — EO will relabel boxes, send refund
Was it the image of pork-chop eating vegetarians that changed their minds? A call from Whole Foods or the Vegetarian Times? We'll never know, but we've got progress. Sue Potter just wrote, saying:

We are sending a cash refund, your preference over product and coupons. A check for $4.00 will be mailed .... We sincerely apologize for our error, and troubling you with it.
New artwork is being dispatched to the printer, and current inventory is being re-labeled/stickered with the corrected common measure.
We began corrective measures immediately upon learning of our mistake in July.

The website is still wrong and there are mislabeled boxes in the store, but some action has been taken. The bad information will be out of the system more quickly now. Unlike Newman's Own, Eden hasn't pulled mislabeled products off the shelves or said what they will do for other customers who didn't get what they expected. But if you feel entitled to a refund too, contact Eden Organic Pasta.