The Guardian is reporting that 'supermarkets are putting pressure on organic food watchdogs to lower standards so they can fully exploit a billion-pound industry which is growing by 30% a year', a claim that has been backed by the Soil Association.
In the UK we don't have options like Whole Foods so all of our organic food is bought from the same supermarkets that have driven farmers to mass produce the lowest priced, most economically viable food. A move which has led shoppers to switch to organic food, quite often the most expensive option, because of wide spread beliefs that organic food is a healthier, more ethical option. Whilst it's intersting to see just how far the supermarkets will spite themselves in the pursuit of short-term profits, it is not at all surprising.
So, even with the inevitable controversy that crops up around a supermarket like Whole Foods, does this mean that there is room for another chain, albeit specialised, in UK high streets? One thing is for sure, as more and more people switch to organic food, the debate over
organic versus local becomes much more relevant. If the big supermarket chains insist on homegonising orgnaic food so that it becomes as mass-produced and bland as the alternatives, then many more shoppers are going to do what I did last weekend - drive a much shorter distance the my nearest farmers market and buy direct.
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BusinessWeek Online also has a take on this, exposing the organic myth.
It's interesting to see how the proverbial food chain is being lined up, like this:
Local food > Organic food > Mass produced food.
In fact, they've gone into further detail on this with an article on the organic myth:
"Consider this: Sometime soon a portion of the milk used to make that organic yogurt may be taken from a chemical-free cow in New Zealand, powdered, and then shipped to the U.S. True, Stonyfield still cleaves to its organic heritage. For Chairman and CEO Gary Hirshberg, though, shipping milk powder 9,000 miles across the planet is the price you pay to conquer the supermarket dairy aisle. "It would be great to get all of our food within a 10-mile radius of our house," he says. "But once you're in organic, you have to source globally.""
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