Foodsectornews.com - Organic Food for US Babies

Organic Food for US Babies

Tuesday, 27 March 2007

Organic food is expensive, but annual sales in US are still going up. And it’s not because of adults only, organic baby food market is growing too.

According to a study Consumer Reports, organic food for babies is a good option. Baby food is generally made from condensed vegetables and fruits. This indicates that the pesticide residue, sometimes, can also be concentrated. So you may get higher levels of pesticides than regular food.

In fact, studies have revealed that children who take organic food have low pesticides levels in their blood than children living on regular food. Pesticides can be far more dangerous for children than for grown-ups. As babies’ bodies are still developing, they are susceptible to toxins in food, such as pesticides and other chemicals. So for tots, organic baby food is worth the extra bucks spent. In the last decade, organic sales in US have risen 20% or more annually. Sales of organic food and beverages closed at $3.5 Billion in 1997 and are expected to have gone beyond $15 Billion in 2004. Organic food and beverages sales are predicted to grow more than double by 2009.

“Consumer spending on organic has grown so much that we’ve attracted big players who want to bend the rules so that they can brand their products as organic without incurring the expenses involved in truly living up to organic standards,” says Ronnie Cummins, National Director, Organic Consumers Association, a Finland, Minn-based advocacy group, on the Consumer Reports Website.

According to the RNCOS report, “Baby Food Industry (2006)”, because of the intuited virtuous issue linked with organic food, the main distribution channels like supermarkets are also changing their attitude and creating more shelf-space to organic baby food products. Processed organic food, like organic baby food and frozen meals, are contributing to the growth of this sector. This is a signal that buyers are now ready to inculcate organic food as substitutes for more conventional food and beverages products, particularly in the baby food market.