The Organic Food Industry

The following article was written by Louanne Cox for YoNaturals Vending.

We are constantly told that organic is good, but what does organic mean?   In basic terms it means that food is grown without the use of any chemical fertilizers or pesticides.   Animals are reared without being fed antibiotics and eat only organic food themselves.

There are strict regulations to be met before a company can call their product organic and these regulations are overseen by the USDA’s National Organic Program.   There are actually four different labeling standards that are applied and these are:

•    100% Organic

•    Organic

•    Made with organic materials

•    Less than 70% organic

100% organic is exactly what it says, if the label says organic it means that contains at least 95% organic ingredients.   If the label says made with organic materials then they must have at least 70% content.   If the food contains less than 70% organic then it cannot say it is organic, however it can list organic ingredients.

There are a number of reasons why people talk about turning to organic food.   The first one that we hear is the health benefits.   Although there have not been any conclusive studies to show that organic food is better for your health, how could it not be?   Not ingesting chemicals versus ingesting chemicals.   Considering that 60% of all weed killers and 30% of all insecticides are potential causes of cancer the argument for organic food is pretty good.

People want to become more environmentally responsible and buying organic can help with that.   When farming organically the soil does not get depleted by chemicals, this allows it to retain a lot of the trace minerals that are often missing in our diets (another tick in the health box).   There is also no pollution from the production and use of the chemicals traditionally used in agriculture.

Going organic can also help the fight against global warming.   According to research conducted by Rodale Institute soil that is farmed in a sustainable manner is able to absorb 30% more carbon emissions than conventionally farmed soil.   They claim that if we, as a nation, were to switch our farmland to organic we could cut the US’s greenhouse emissions by 10%.

With all of these reasons to go organic it is hardly surprising that the organic food industry is one of the fasting growing branches of the grocery industry.   The organic food industry is a niche, but it is a rapidly growing niche.   In the 2002 Organic Consumer Trends Report it stated that 39% of the US population uses organic products.

The big multi-nationals such as Unilever, Kraft and Nestle have all moved to take ownership of a number of organic food companies.   They are forecasting that the market will get bigger and produce higher profits.

Organic food was once only available at farmer markets and in health food stores, but now there are organic foods in every supermarket in the US.

We at YoNaturals vending know that organic food industry is big business and it is only going to get bigger.