Organic food has spilled out of the granola bag and onto the tables of mainstream America, where consumers this year likely will spend upwards of $15 billion dollars on food items labeled “USDA organic.”
That figure is more than double the amount spent in 2000, according to a Raleigh News & Observer story about the former niche market that now boasts a proven track record of 20 to 25 percent annual sales growth.
Although organic food accounts for only 2.5 percent of the nation’s grocery dollars, it is the “fastest growing sector of the food and beverage industry,” states a report from the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University.
Organic is Hot
In other words, “organic is hot,” to quote the Organic Trade Association’s 2006 annual report. “The organic industry is at a new tipping point,” the report states, adding that 90 percent of consumers “have heard about organic” and more than 80 percent “say the benefits of organic products are believable.” The OTAsums it up this way: “Never before have we seen the degree of acceptance and interest in organic from mainstream supermarkets and consumers.”
All of those numbers are a result of growing awareness among health-conscious consumers, many of whom also care greatly about sustainability and other related environmental issues. And that, surely all will agree, is a good thing.
Yet, the kind of real and predicted growth that the organic food industry is generating is also attracting some other admirers – huge, publicly owned corporations eager to cash in on an emerging giant. And that, some say, may not be a good thing.
Three-piece Suits in a Pastoral Meadow
Wall Street’s emergence into a food market niche once the sole domain of hippie co-ops and small-parcel family farms is both evident and hidden.
Walk down the grocery aisle and pluck a bottle of ketchup from the shelf. It may carry the certified organic label as well as that of food industry giant Heinz. On the other hand, who would guess that such quaint “boutique” brands as Boca Foods, Muir Glen, and Kashi are respectively owned by Kraft, General Mills, and Kellogg? From Coca-Cola and Pepsi to M&M Mars and ConAgra, the nation’s top food processing corporations are well entrenched in the organic marketplace, a fact that has been graphically documented by Michigan State University professor Phil Howard. (Access the graphic here.)
Perhaps surprisingly, the problem with publicly traded corporations producing organic foods is not necessarily that processed food somehow lessens the organic efficacy of what’s inside the bag, can, or bottle.
That’s just not the case, says OTA spokesperson Barbara Haumann. Certified organic “means that the product is meeting the national organic standard, which includes production and processing. Whoever made that, that manufacturer, had to meet the national organic standards.”
What is Organic?
The federal Food and Drug Administration’s definition of organic food is, of course, lengthy and complicated, yet, if you’d like to see it, click here. Or, click here to access the FDA’s National Organic Program fact sheet that includes a user-friendly definition of organic and answers other related questions. Regardless, a 2006 cover story in BusinessWeek magazine offers perhaps the simplest definition: “food grown without the assistance of man-made chemicals.”
So, can organic really come in a can?
“I would say yes,” states Matt Tyler of the Organic Consumers Association, a public-interest organization “promoting the views and interests of the nation’s estimated 50 million organic and socially responsible consumers.”
However, Tyler qualifies his affirmative with several significant caveats.
“Our contention has always been that the publicly traded corporations are legally obligated to maximize profit in order to act in the best interest of their shareholders,” he states. “That causes a fundamental conflict of interest.”
“We don’t feel that the publicly traded model is a long-term solution to producing organic foods,” he says. Tyler also expresses fear that “in the quest for increased profits, they will begin cutting corners” and that the industry will be “degraded to a marketing fad.”
What About the Can?
Oh, and there’s one other thing to worry about. It’s called bisphenol-A, and it’s been linked to birth defects and cancer. Also known as BPA, the chemical compound is commonly used as a “protective lining for food and beverage cans,” according to a National Institutes of Health scientific panel that is studying the issue.
While the possibility of toxic food cans obviously is not limited to products certified organic, it certainly is a factor in the organic food consumer’s decision-making process.
Other Considerations
Other factors worth considering include that, as the OCA spokesman points out, if a product is processed and packaged, it likely has been shipped long distances to your grocery story. That uses energy, adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, and generally increases the amount of greenhouse emissions damaging the earth’s environment.
On the other hand, regardless of whose selling them, the more organic products there are on the market means that many more “acres that are being devoted to organic agriculture,” says Haumann of the OTA. And that’s good for the earth, she says.
A few final points here are that consuming organic foods processed, packaged, and distributed by a national company surely is healthier than consuming non-organic foods that have processed, packaged, distributed by the same national company. Yet, although some studies claim otherwise, most of us believe that fresher is better. Common sense and gut instinct tell us that locally grown fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat, especially when certified organic, are naturally better than anything in a can.
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