“If you’re contacting us about buying the company, sorry! We’re not for sale.” That’s the message you’ll see on the home page of US organic cereals brand Nature’s Path.

The decision by Nature’s Path and other organic pioneers not to sell to big name food brands was the subject of a revealing article in the Chicago Times last week.

In the US, as in the UK, a host of small organic brands have been snapped up by the multinationals. But some pioneer brands have steadfastly resisted the overtures made to them Big Food. Seeds, grains and pulses specialist Eden Foods is one.

Eden’s Michael Potter told the Chicago Times that he was happy to forgo the “the big payoff” because selling out to a big corporation would mean selling out “the very essence of organic: small, alternative and individualistic”. Potter added: “What I do is meaningful. It needs to be done.”

Like Eden’s Potter, Arran Stephens, the founder and chief executive officer of Nature’s Path, has rejected a string of offers to sell the organic business he started in 1985. He told the Chicago daily: “If everybody wants to consolidate and sell out, that’s fine. But some people believe all the soul gets gutted out of the company. We don’t want that to happen. We have our own agenda, our own strategy.”

Commentators and analysts are also starting to question the wider effects selling pioneer firms to multinationals. Philip Howard has studied the organic industry’s consolidation, and is dismayed. A professor at Michigan State University, Howard is increasingly concerned about the impact of what he calls “stealth ownership.”

While some companies, he says, have increased their commitment to organic principles, others seem more intent on cutting costs and reducing levels organic ingredients. He told the paper: “If all you’re interested in is eating foods grown without pesticides or synthetics, then going mainstream has been great,” he said. “But if you’re interested in the values of sustainability and things like that, it’s been a mixed blessing.”