A recent study published by the Journal of Food Products revealed that the awareness is there, unfortunately, it is not as diversified as previously expected.
Organic products have recently been touted as the ideal food item to steer people away from chemically-laced food products as well as the healthy benefits that it entails. Major food retail chains have already joined in the organic bandwagon by coming up by stocking up on organic vegetables and meat, lowering prices and offering discounts.
Researchers, however, were surprised to find out that retail stores that were selling most of these organic products are those belonging to the Upper East and West neighbourhoods of Manhattan- the more affluent section of Manhattan’s residential communities.
Their research involved food sales across Manhattan by painstakingly visiting 1,256 stores in terms of location, sale of organic products and comparison of organic and conventional food products sold.
Study co-author Carolyn Dimitri of the New York University’s Food Studies Program, said that their study revealed that only a few stores had wide range of organic food selections on their shelves and seemed to be concentrated mostly on a few select neighbourhoods, rather than the broad expanse of which it was previously expected by the industry.
Dimitri pointed out that only an average of 5 organic products were found a tenth of all the stores visited and these products are lettuce, yoghurt, milk, eggs and cheese.
The believe that many retailers would rather stack up on products with higher turnover and costs less to have them sold, especially in Manhattan as real estate values for places like New York place a premium on products that are being displayed for sale.
This also factors in costs of organic products that are priced higher compared to conventional food products.
The Organic Consumer’s Association on the other hand, indicated that seeing these products in the more affluent sections of the community does not mean that people could not afford to buy these products, rather, it is more on the widespread confusion of consumer interests and budget.
This is not just because organic products are rare, consumer perspectives still prevail over awareness on organics simply because they command a higher price, adding that it is more than just demand, it is making it more affordable and accessible to the general population.
Image Credit: Organic Foods Still Aren’t As Mass Market As You Might Think – NPR
The post Is The Market Ready For Organic Products? Not Quite Yet appeared first on NUTRITION CLUB CANADA.
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