Veggie burger lands ‘clean’ food honors

Sunshine Burger, which specializes in vegetarian patties, has been named to Prevention’s honor roll in its 2014 Cleanest Packaged Food Awards. The product (made with sunflower kernels, brown rice, black beans, and other organic items) is free of animal products, wheat, soy, tree nuts, peanuts, and corn.

'Free' foods​

Cole Jones, general manager of Sunshine Burger and Specialty Food, said the honor demonstrates the producer’s commitment to producing clean food products, free from genetically modified ingredients.

“Sunshine Burger is dedicated to providing food that is healthful and wholesome and that starts with using real, certified organic, non-GMO ingredients in all of our burgers​,” he said.

Clean qualifications​

To qualify for the list of Cleanest Packaged Foods, Prevention’s judges dictate a product can contain 10 g or fewer of added sugar, have no more than 200 mg of sodium per serving, be housed in BPA-free packaging, and contain no genetically modified ingredients. Seafood products must be sustainably fished, according to criteria laid out by the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Sunshine Burger’s patties come in a range of flavors, including Garden Herb, Loco Chipotle, Barbeque, Falafel, Shiitake Mushroom, and Hemp and Sage Breakfast. In 2010, the producer became the first veggie burger maker to be certified non-GMO by The Non-GMO Project.

The 100-item Cleanest Packaged Food Awards list of winners contains edibles from nearly every aisle of the grocery store. Other winning items include Stonyfield Organic Nonfat Greek Yogurt, Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Original Unsweetened Almondmilk, KIND Dark Chocolate Chili Almond Bar, Heinz Organic Ketchup, and more.