Sales of Organic Baby Food Take a Jump
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 05. 4.07
You may not have noticed, but organic baby food sales jumped 21.6% in the year ended Feb. 24 after jumping 16.4% a year earlier. And why is that so interesting? Well, to be quite honest the price of organic baby food is about 30% higher than conventional baby food. The given reason is that it costs more to make, and with a lot of other expenses for new parents to consider I’d bet many choose to forego the potential benefits of a healthier lifestyle in deference to a thicker wallet. Adding further intrigue to the issue is that doctors say parents shouldn't feel guilty if they can't afford the extra expense; the USDA doesn't claim that organic food is safer or more nutritious than conventionally produced food, and the American Academy of Pediatrics has no official stance on subject! All of which may lead some to go back to that earlier consideration of finances and assume business as usual is just fine with them… But I’m thinking the whole issue boils down to a simple question that can act as an easy litmus test for us all. If we’d honestly prefer organic food for ourselves that doesn’t use things like conventional pesticides, fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge for produce, and antibiotics or growth hormones for animals; then why would it be just fine for our babies? And given the incredible increase in sales even at a 30% higher price it’s obvious to me that more and more people are looking in the mirror, asking themselves that question, and realizing the answer is that it’s probably not.
90% of all the baby food that my wife and I purchased for our child was Earth's Best organic food. Yeah it costs more than coventional baby food. But if you look at that cost of feeding a little child versus what it cost to feed yourself. It is a lot cheaper to feed your baby. So we felt that was a wash, plus the fact that we know the food was grown without the use of pesticides and growth hormones.
So that small step has now translated into buying organic milk, juices and yogurt for the little one. We even found a great local meat vendor at the farmers market that does not give their cattle growth hormones. So it is a slow transition for us. But the little one is definitly living the good life.
A lot of my kids' baby food was homemade -- anything that fit in the blender was fair game. It's cheaper (baby eats whatever you're eating), easier (baby eats whatever you're eating), and just as healthy as whatever I was eating.
For those rare occasions when we needed pre-packaged, we did buy organic, just to try to have one little thing less on the long string of worry-beads that is parenting!
The sole source of nutrition for at least the first year (or maybe two) of a baby's life should be human milk. The whole business of "baby food", organic or otherwise, is detrimental to the health of the population.