Pop Quiz: Organic Revolution?
by Dominic Muren, Philadelphia, USA on 04. 2.08
Answer: D) 3%
U.S. organic food sales have been booming. While they still only total 3% of all retail sales of food and beverages, in 2006 "organic food sales totaled nearly $17 billion," a 22% increase over 2005. Much of those sales (31%) have been coming from mainstream supermarkets and grocery stores, while 24% came from Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. Another "22 percent of all organic sales were through independent, small chain natural grocery stores. " In other words, everyone from Wal-Mart to Whole Foods to your local independent grocery store is getting into the organic game.
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Source: OrganicConsumers.org
Trader Joes is cool, but so many of their items are imported. Next time you go into Trader Joes, keep track of where each item comes from. They ship in tomatoes from Holland, and pot-stickers from Thailand.
Eating local is at least as important as eating organic. Don't forget that. If my organic food has to be shipped from Holland, forget about it.