What’s rolling off the production line in St. Albans is an old flavor with a new name and new ingredients as the iconic ice-cream maker transforms all of its 50 flavors to non-genetically modified ingredients and Fair Trade certification.
“It’s no longer Heath bar,” notes Ben & Jerry’s spokeswoman Kelly Mohr of the coffee crunch motoring through the automated assembly line in front of her.
The Heath Toffee Bar that was once a central ingredient of the popular “Coffee Heath Bar Crunch” had to go. To meet the non-GMO and Fair Trade standards, Ben & Jerry’s had to find new sources for some 110 ingredients that go into the chunky, funky flavors, no small change for a company that throws “Everything but the…” into its ice cream.
“We felt like this was something Ben & Jerry’s ought to be a leader on,” said Chris Miller, Ben & Jerry’s social mission activism manager.
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For Ben & Jerry’s, the non-GMO changeover comes with some risk. Committed consumers of flavors containing Heath Bar Crunch have spewed negative comments in online forums over alterations to their favorite flavors. The move, however, puts Ben & Jerry’s back in the good graces of a growing GMO-opposition movement, which now sees the quirky ice-cream maker as a leading supporter.
“I would say they’re definitely on the cutting edge,” said Ken Roseboro, editor/publisher of the national Non-GMO Sourcebook, a manual that helps food producers find GMO-free ingredients.
Read the full, original article: How Ben & Jerry’s says goodbye to GMOs
