The great pickle controversy

Somehow I missed this article when it was first published last fall, but Food & Wine posted about how pickle manufacturers in the US are omitting the word ‘pickle’ on their jar labels. All of the big names like Vlasic, Mt. Olive, and B&G have named their products things like ‘Hamburg chips’ or ‘Kosher Dill Spears’ – anything other than the straightforward and obvious choice of ‘pickle’. Curious about this omission, Food & Wine contacted the manufacturer for an explanation. The answers they received were less than satisfying.

The manufacturers responded with vague answers like they didn’t want to waste valuable label space because you can clearly see that there are pickles in the jar. Yet one of the companies – Vlasic – does include pickle in the label on one of their products called ‘Purely Pickles’, which is not substantially different than the aforementioned ‘Kosher Dill Spears’. Other manufacturers likewise had responses that sounded like ways to avoid directly answering the question.

There doesn’t seem to be an issue with the way the products are made, because the USDA standards only say that the product must be predominantly made from cucumbers and needs to be preserved either through fermentation or in a vinegar solution, and the pH must be below 4.6 (which is considered to be safe for preserved products such as jams and jellies as well). All of the products mentioned above fit this definition, so it can’t be that they are worried about being called out by the USDA.

This is one of those things that never crossed my mind before but will be in my thoughts every time I pass by the pickle aisle when I’m at the grocery store. I quickly browsed the shelves at my local Hy-Vee, and sure enough, none of the major players included pickle on the label, and neither did the store brand. However, niche brands including Famous Dave’s, Oh Snap! Picking Co., Bubbie’s, and Milwaukee proudly displayed the word pickles on the label. Why the big brands don’t will remain a mystery.