Mergers in the Food Industry – Updated June 16, 2004

Know who you are giving your money to. For example:

Odwalla Juice and Fresh Samantha (juice) are owned by Coca-Cola.

• Coca-Cola prohibits unionizing: WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire — Edgar Paez, of the Colombian trade union Sinaltrainal, was joined on Monday by Teamster representatives, the AFL- CIO, members of the clergy, civil rights activists and political leaders as he described the brutal torture, kidnapping and murders of union workers in his country — particularly those working at Coca-Cola bottling facilities. The group assembled for a peace vigil in front of the World of Coca-Cola Museum in Atlanta, GA. “My brothers and sisters in Colombia have suffered unspeakable horrors because they belong to a trade union,” Paez said. “We stand united with American workers to demand that Coca-Cola stop the violence.”
• Coca-Cola paid $192.5 million to settle a U.S. racial discrimination lawsuit in 2000.