July 31, 2002 (S. Burlington, VT) -- Ben & Jerry’s has been making the best all natural ice cream on earth for almost 25 years.

The CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest) yesterday sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration questioning our all-natural claim because they don’t consider some of the chunks and swirls in our ice cream to be truly natural.

But, we are a company that listens, that cares and that resolves problems when they occur. We wished CSPI had brought their concerns to our attention and we would have worked together.

To tell the truth, there is no agreed-upon definition of all-natural, but that’s splitting hairs. CSPI has asked the question. We have heard them. More important, we care about what our consumers expect from us and our products.

To that end, we are talking with some of the nation’s most respected natural foods organizations. We have asked them to assist us in exploring these concerns. If the questions that CSPI has raised are valid, we will fix them. If our position turns out to be correct, we won’t issue a press release or make a big to-do out of it; we’ll just go on making the best all-natural ice cream we know how to make. Whatever the case, we’re going to do what we have always done which is what is best for our millions of loyal fans.