Sad news
- Thread starter Jimi
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Another permanent boycott, but to get the timeline straight:
Before being acquired by Dean Foods in 2004, Horizon was an independent company sourcing dairy products from farms that used organic methods. Soon after Dean Foods acquired it, Organic Consumers Association organized a boycott of Horizon (and Aurora Organic Dairy), for failing to follow organic standards. Then White Wave bought Horizon from Dean Foods, and subsequently sold it to Danone.
But they think people won't know what goes on, how organic standards are something to label with while ignoring the processes of doing it right. These lying dogs never removed "organic" from the Horizon label. In 2024, a private equity firm purchased a controlling stake in Horizon Organic.
It was a good company at its founding and in its first years from 1991 to 2004, producing good products and supporting organic dairy farms. It was in my first portfolio of stocks I hand picked. That exercise in stock picking was a learning curve I don't regret, but I sold my Horizon stock even before the OCA boycott began, having gotten wind of the cheats on organic processes.
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The chicken giant that bet on lab-grown meat
Tyson Foods is one of the biggest poultry processors on the planet, supplying chicken to fast food chains like McDonald's, Burger King, and KFC. That enormous scale is a big part of why nuggets, tenders, and chicken sandwiches can be made cheaply and taste the same from one city to the next.
But Tyson has also put money behind a technology that could shake up the entire meat industry: cultivated meat.
In 2018, its venture arm, Tyson Ventures, invested in Memphis Meats (now known as UPSIDE Foods), a startup growing chicken, duck, and beef directly from animal cells, with no need to raise or slaughter animals.
The idea is simple but radical. Scientists take cells from an animal and grow them in a controlled environment until they become real meat, without the rest of the animal.
For a company built on traditional farming, it was a telling move. Even the industry's biggest players were watching where food production might go next. Tyson framed the investment as a way to explore new methods of making meat as the world's appetite for protein keeps growing.
And that's the striking part. The same company powering America's fast food chicken boom has also backed a technology meant to reinvent how meat is made.
That chicken sandwich may look simple, but behind it sits a massive industry already preparing for a future where meat doesn't always come from a farm.
Tyson Foods is one of the biggest poultry processors on the planet, supplying chicken to fast food chains like McDonald's, Burger King, and KFC. That enormous scale is a big part of why nuggets, tenders, and chicken sandwiches can be made cheaply and taste the same from one city to the next.
But Tyson has also put money behind a technology that could shake up the entire meat industry: cultivated meat.
In 2018, its venture arm, Tyson Ventures, invested in Memphis Meats (now known as UPSIDE Foods), a startup growing chicken, duck, and beef directly from animal cells, with no need to raise or slaughter animals.
The idea is simple but radical. Scientists take cells from an animal and grow them in a controlled environment until they become real meat, without the rest of the animal.
For a company built on traditional farming, it was a telling move. Even the industry's biggest players were watching where food production might go next. Tyson framed the investment as a way to explore new methods of making meat as the world's appetite for protein keeps growing.
And that's the striking part. The same company powering America's fast food chicken boom has also backed a technology meant to reinvent how meat is made.
That chicken sandwich may look simple, but behind it sits a massive industry already preparing for a future where meat doesn't always come from a farm.
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You weren't imagining it. McDonald's fries really did change, and there's a date on it: July 23, 1990.
Before that day, McDonald's fried them in a blend that was mostly beef tallow. That's the rich, savory crunch so many people still talk about decades later.
The switch to vegetable oil came after a loud public campaign against saturated fat. It was led by Phil Sokolof, an Omaha businessman who survived a heart attack at 43 and spent millions on full-page newspaper ads. McDonald's denied it was answering him, but the timing speaks for itself.
Here's the part that still gets me. The "healthier" oil they moved to was hydrogenated, which meant trans fats. McDonald's had to change oils again in 2007.
To win back some of the old taste, they added something called "natural beef flavor." Read that line on the ingredient list. It's made with wheat and milk, so today's U.S. fries aren't vegetarian. That matters if anyone you feed has a wheat or milk allergy.
The picture going around piles extra bowls onto the 2026 side, and several of them aren't on McDonald's list at all. And even in 1983, the fries already arrived frozen from a factory. The difference people remember is the fat they were fried in.
Malcolm Gladwell had a food research lab make both versions for a blind taste test. He said it was no contest.
So no, it isn't nostalgia playing tricks. McDonald's traded away the flavor that made its fries famous, and it has been trying to fake it back ever since.
Before that day, McDonald's fried them in a blend that was mostly beef tallow. That's the rich, savory crunch so many people still talk about decades later.
The switch to vegetable oil came after a loud public campaign against saturated fat. It was led by Phil Sokolof, an Omaha businessman who survived a heart attack at 43 and spent millions on full-page newspaper ads. McDonald's denied it was answering him, but the timing speaks for itself.
Here's the part that still gets me. The "healthier" oil they moved to was hydrogenated, which meant trans fats. McDonald's had to change oils again in 2007.
To win back some of the old taste, they added something called "natural beef flavor." Read that line on the ingredient list. It's made with wheat and milk, so today's U.S. fries aren't vegetarian. That matters if anyone you feed has a wheat or milk allergy.
The picture going around piles extra bowls onto the 2026 side, and several of them aren't on McDonald's list at all. And even in 1983, the fries already arrived frozen from a factory. The difference people remember is the fat they were fried in.
Malcolm Gladwell had a food research lab make both versions for a blind taste test. He said it was no contest.
So no, it isn't nostalgia playing tricks. McDonald's traded away the flavor that made its fries famous, and it has been trying to fake it back ever since.
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