Okay I'll be the first to say this issue is not of earth shattering importance, there's far greater issues we are dealing with, I sure hope all the Keystone State voters can vote and all the folks struggling in poverty find a helping hand. But still I find myself thinking that because we've let business get away with the small stuff, they have been emboldened to far worse behavior. In short consumers need to be yelling fowl when corporations pull nasty tricks on us.
Our tale begins with my decades long habit of consuming a container of yogurt at lunch on weekdays. I've long been a finicky demanding yogurt consumer, I'm not a fan of the taste of High Fructose Corn Syrup or the gelatinous masses that pretend to be "Greek", so I like to eat a mix of fat free and full fat products (in moderation, I swear ;-). One of my favorite brands recently has been Liberté Méditerranée.
Follow me for over the jump to read about what goaded me to write my first diary in over 2 years.
If you live in Canada, close to the border or in the Northeastern US, you might have had the pleasure of sampling a container of Liberté Méditerranée. It was a full fat strained style of yogurt with a tangy taste not overly sweetened and high quality ingredients. The company was based near Montreal and the yogurt made from Quebec milk in their plant outside of Montreal.
It was so good I didn't mind paying an extra 20 cents a container versus Stonyfield, Brown Cow or Wallaby. So I bought a few Strawberry about a week ago, noticing there was new packaging but too tired to notice that the packaging heralded the decision by now owner General Mills to increase production and distribution of Liberté branded yogurt in the US by using the Denver, CO Yoplait factory to make the yogurt for sale in the US.
So I'm at work, pop open one of the new yogurts and get a mouthful of yuck. It was a pectin laden HFCS mess that didn't even taste like strawberry or even contain strawberries. It actually tasted like cherry and appeared to have bits of cherry in it.
That evening I googled to get the skinny and found the press release on General Mills website along with comments from similarly irate former fans of the yogurt. Hilariously the PR hack claims they didn't reformulate the yogurt but commenters pushed back noting the different ingredient lists and that the customer service line of General Mills copped to doing this.
Liberté Méditerranée and Liberté Greek – Liberté is the fastest growing yogurt business in Canada. In July, Yoplait USA will assume operation of the Liberté brand in the United States. Both Liberté products launching in the U.S. this summer are great-tasting, premium yogurts.
Still simmering over my ruined lunch, I used the "contact us" link on the website of the new Liberteusa.com to politely but firmly state my opinion that Liberté had built up a rep as a premium product, no way no how would its current fans stand for the cheapening of the brand and in a crowded US yogurt marketplace there wasn't room for another yoplait yogurt in a French Canadian wrapper.
Their response was entirely predictable and I am now a former fan of Liberté Méditerranée.
Thank you for contacting us.
We love Liberté as much as you do – we eat it every day – and the opportunity to make it more available to folks across the USA is really exciting. In order to do this, Liberté USA started making yogurt where it is sold-in the United States in addition to Canada.
When we moved locations, we started with the same recipe, and with the goal of upholding the great taste and texture of the Méditerranée you love we have made only necessary and minimal changes. We are also happy to be able to work with most of the same people who have supplied the ingredients in the past.
We have experienced some hiccups as we adjust to our new location, which has resulted in some batches of yogurt that don’t meet our expectations. We’re working quickly to fix that and bring the consistency and flavor back up to our highest standards.
In the spirit of keeping you in the loop, this is what has changed: American Liberté products are made in the U.S., we now get our milk from a co-op in Virginia and Maryland, and we updated our cup while keeping the same 6 ounces.
We’re truly thankful for your feedback, and appreciate having such passionate and dedicated customers who want our yogurt to be as delicious as we do. Throughout this process we will continue to take your feedback seriously, and hope that you will continue to share it with us.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Garrett
Consumer Services
Hmmm, anybody know the secrets to making rich tangy yogurt at home? It might be the only way to escape pectin and HFCS. SIGH.