By ARA Content

Have you ever eaten organic food? If not, you will soon be in the minority. Close to four in 10 consumers buy some type of organic food when they shop, according to a 2001 consumer survey by Rodale Press. Sales of organic products are climbing so fast that they are expected to reach $20 billion in the next three years.

But just who are these four in 10 consumers? Are they the hardcore, zealous health-food-eating types and strict vegetarians? While these groups do help make up part of this organic-purchasing group, the bulk of the growth in this category is coming from mainstream Americans simply looking for better, healthier food choices for themselves and their families.

Lisa Lorimer, CEO of Vermont Bread Company, has been baking and selling organic bread products for more than 20 years. Her Brattleboro bakery in scenic Southern Vermont produces more than 15 million pounds of all natural and certified organic breads and English muffins a year. The company supplies many of the top supermarket chains on the East coast, and continues to expand distribution across the United States; its products are also available nationally via mail order. Lorimer has personally helped fuel the boom in organic food sales and is positive that organic products are becoming a way of life for everyday consumers.

“There are more and more organic products being created and sold every day and much of that growth is from mainstream supermarkets,” said Lorimer. “Our products have been on regular supermarket shelves for 20 years now, and with larger and more sophisticated marketers coming onto the organic scene, even mass merchandisers are stocking organic products. The thing more and more consumers are realizing is that organic products like Vermont Bread generally taste great compared to their nonorganic competitors. It’s all about purity of ingredients.”

According to Lorimer, the fact that large, deep-pocketed marketers are entering the organic category is great news for Vermont Bread Company and other branded organic and natural food manufacturers. “All of this growth has resulted in acceptance by mainstream consumers who already outnumber our traditional, core organic product users,” she said. “For our retail partners the bottom line is this: Organic foods are becoming more and more popular, so they should take a good long look at the organic selections they are offering to their everyday customers.”

But just why is organic so hot, and why are so many consumers turning away from traditional packaged goods foods and turning to a seemingly healthier option - healthier not only to them, but to the environment? One place to look is at part of an official definition of “organic” that the National Organic Standards Board adopted in 1995: “Organic agriculture is an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony.”

Lorimer feels that this “ecological” definition demonstrates the means to an end, that is, that these sound farming practices ultimately lead to better, healthier organic products, and that both of these factors are weighed in consumers’ minds when making food selections.

“If all consumers knew that 60 percent of herbicides, 90 percent of fungicides and 30 percent of insecticides are considered carcinogenic by the EPA, most would probably think twice when they made their next food purchase decisions. Or at least they’d run their lettuce and bread through the washing machine before they served it,”