I like Trader Joe's markets. Their attitude toward customer service is very humanistic, in my opinion. They strive to produce a positive shopping environment and offer affordable food. Good things. So, you might understand my current sense of being betrayed.
I have to read package labels in markets. I have several food allergies and sensitivities, developed after taking multiple chemotherapies for a variety of problems. This complicates my daily life in a fundamental way.
I drink cocoa in the evening. It is one pleasure that has not become toxic...yet. However, I cannot tolerate high fructose corn syrup or additives made from corn. So, I always attempt to buy pure cocoa powder, a simple, whole food.
This week, I wanted to replenish my cocoa supply at Trader Joe's, where I have bought an ethically traded cocoa powder from Colombia in the past. A very good cocoa, actually. The T.J.'s where I shop regularly did not have the familiar brown container. So, I settled for a blue can which says, "Conacado Organic Fair Trade Cocoa". 'No biggie,' I thought, until I got home and remembered to read the label before putting this new product in my cupboard:
"Ingredients: Organic evaporated sugar cane juice (natural milled cane sugar), organic nonfat dry milk powder, organic cocoa powder, organic guar gum, sea salt, organic carob bean gum, organic vanilla bean powder (organic vanilla extract, organic maltodextrin [corn], organic gum arabic)."
In other words, I had been duped. I had not bought just organic fair trade cocoa. I had bought a hot chocolate mix, similar to all the junky ones I could have found on any major grocery chain's shelf. And, it cost me about twice as much as it would have if it had been Swiss Miss. This was a true miss for me. I forgot to read the label...the entire label in Trader Joe's.
I feel betrayed by Trader Joe. I also feel that this product's label is a misrepresentation, a lie, a fraud. It is just one more example of the loss of ethics in business. Had I consumed this product, I would have been ill, probably for days. I doubt Trader Joe or any of his ilk would care.
Libertarians scream about free markets and abolishing all government regulation of business. Well, for their sakes, I hope they fail on their mission. If they should encounter life changes like those I live with every day, they might well be done in by a mislabeled can of cocoa mix. I would not wish this on anyone.
