News Coverage
Organics 101
Published September 12, 2004
You've decided to start eating more organically grown foods, especially fresh produce.
Join the crowd. Sales of organics have been climbing about 20 percent a year in the United States and 25 percent in Europe for the last decade, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2002 National Organic Program Report. That makes organics the fastest-growing segment in the food industry, the agency said.
But aren't organics harder to find and a lot more expensive than conventional foods?
Forget the 1960s image of ferreting out a few pale, wilted greens on a dusty health-foods-store shelf. Today, more than half of the nation's organic-food sales come from supermarkets, including Whole Foods Markets' 153 U.S. stores, and mass retailers such as Super Target (which sells organic beef and chicken), Wal-Mart and Costco.
Though nationwide sales topped $10 billion last year, organics still represented barely 2 percent of total food purchases. The USDA expects that share to triple, climbing past $30 billion, by 2007. Yet the debate continues over whether organic foods are really better for health.
Recently, we shopped at 10 markets in and around Philadelphia -- both conventional and organic/natural-foods stores, including supermarkets, co-ops and even a farm stand -- to compare the selection and prices of their organic produce.
On the plus side, we found supplies were good and quality excellent. And prices, while high, were rarely outrageous. There were even a few bargains.
On the downside, finding what you want at the best price may take some searching.
We compared prices for six of the most widely available types of organic produce -- bell peppers, green seedless grapes, hearts of romaine, peaches, red potatoes, and tomatoes -- at the five local stores with the most variety.
Co-ops had some of the best prices. But co-ops' inventories can be small and sell out quickly. And many require members to contribute some "sweat equity" to the enterprise.
For the rest of us, the convenience at Whole Foods and other chains is probably worth the higher prices.
We also made some price comparisons between Whole Foods and the other stores for larger imaginary market baskets of a wider variety of identical items. The selection and number of items for each comparison vary, since no store surveyed stocked organic versions of all of the foods we looked for.
Prices were in effect Aug. 11-13 and, of course, are subject to change.
LET'S GO SHOPPING
Visits to three of the seven Philadelphia-area stores owned by Whole Foods Market, based in Austin, Texas, found a large variety and amount of organic produce, much of it from California.
At the store at 20th and Callowhill Streets, organics accounted for slightly more than half of about 200 fresh produce items, not counting every type of fresh herb or variety of bagged salad mix. Many items were available in both organic and conventional form.
On average, the organics were priced about 35 percent higher than the comparable conventional produce. The disparity left it to shoppers to decide whether organic California peaches at $2.99 a pound were preferable to Virginia's conventional crop at 79 cents a pound, or if one pound of organic strawberries ($3.99) was a better value than a two-pound pack of ordinary strawberries ($6.99).
Occasionally -- in fact, more often than expected -- there was little or no price difference. Among standard tomatoes, organics and conventionals were both $1.99 a pound. (Heirloom varieties, organically grown, were $2.99 a pound.)
And on rare occasions, organics were the better buy, such as the organic iceberg lettuce on sale for 99 cents a head when regular heads cost $1.99 at many other stores. That's possible because Whole Foods has close relationships with its growers and shippers, said Edmund LaMacchia, the chain's national produce coordinator.
"By dealing direct, we are insulated from some of the variables of the marketplace. And we pass on the savings," said LaMacchia, who is based in Watsonville, Calif.
Stores or chains that buy their organics from wholesalers, he noted, will pay more and charge more, creating a greater "premium," or price spread, between conventional and organic items.
Comparing Whole Foods locations in the city and suburbs turned up slight variations in selection and a few price differences. But prices for advertised items and most produce were the same.
Philadelphia chain Fresh Grocer's Drexel Hill store offered a fine selection of about 60 varieties of organic produce. On our six-item core list, the Fresh Grocer's price total was the highest, but some of the store's other organic items were bargains. Black plums were just $1.29 a pound; kiwifruit, two for 99 cents.
Twelve organic foods in a larger hypothetical market basket cost about the same as those at Whole Foods, except for organic cherries ($7.99 a pound at Whole Foods vs. $3.99 a pound at the Fresh Grocer).
Prices for many organic fruits and vegetables were about double those for conventionals, a wider spread than at Whole Foods. But in part, that was because the Fresh Grocer often charged less for conventional produce than Whole Foods did.
Industry-wide, the average price difference between organic and conventional produce is "probably in the 30 to 50 percent range," Miles McEvoy, manager of the Washington State Department of Agriculture's Organic Food Program, said in an interview last year. Surveys find that most shoppers are willing to pay a premium of about 30 percent for organics.
At Essene Market & Cafe, in Philadelphia's Queen Village, about 90 percent of the 144 produce items we found were labeled organic, giving it the largest selection, both in variety and in the number of package sizes.
Conventionally grown produce is offered only when organic versions are unavailable or are exorbitantly priced, which can happen a few times a year, produce manager Jim Richards said.
In matching 12 identical items at Essene and Whole Foods, we found prices very close, on average, including 89 cents a pound for organic green cabbage, 89 cents a pound for bananas, and $2.99 a pound for tomatoes and grapes. The items totaled $23.28 at Essene and $23.58 at Whole Foods.
Organic foods are just one of the pluses at Trader Joe's, a national chain with a good selection of specialty and imported foods at moderate prices. Still, a comparison of 10 of the roughly 30 organic fruits and vegetables (about one-third of the total produce) at its store in Center City Philadelphia found prices -- including those for tomatoes ($3.29 a pound) and cucumbers ($2.99 a pound) -- slightly higher on average than at Whole Foods.
Weavers Way Co-op in Mount Airy, N.J., may look like a small neighborhood grocery, but it has about 3,300 member households that rang up about 15,000 transactions in a recent four-week period. That included two weeks in August, the store's slowest month, operations manager Eileen Schaller said.
Almost half of the floor space is devoted to fresh produce, and about half of that is organic. One big plus: Much of it is freshly harvested from local and regional farms, including the co-op's own plot.
Of the more than 40 organics in stock during our visit, we matched 10, at a cost of $16.58, with like items at Whole Foods, where they totaled $18.66.
A comparison of 10 other items showed the total price for organics ($16.33) was about 70 percent higher than for their conventional counterparts ($9.52). That spread was widened by bargains on conventional produce, such as spring mix at $4.33 a pound and green peppers at 76 cents a pound.
Manager Glenn Bergman says he tries to balance the stock between conventional and organic based on price.
"We carry both to give members a choice," he said. "But when prices are down, we'll buy only organic, and we try to sell our organic produce at or near conventional prices."
Much of the stock at Pete's Produce in Westtown, Pa., comes from local farms. Some is grown by owner Pete Flynn on land leased from nearby Westtown School. Flynn says he uses "organic methods" with no chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers, but his produce is not certified organic.
Still, the selection of bell peppers in colors from ivory to purple ($1.49 a pound), chiles (Anaheim, habanero, poblano and more, $2.99 a pound), tomatoes (from $1 a pound, depending on variety, with heirlooms at $2.25 a pound), and a wealth of summer ($1.59 a pound) and winter (59 cents a pound) squashes make this stand a treasure.
Wider availability of organics at markets dedicated to them may account for small stocks at some conventional chains. When we stopped at the Super Fresh store in Philadelphia, we found only a few organics. (Super Fresh, the successor to the old A&P food stores, has 76 stores in the Mid-Atlantic region and is based in Montvale, N.J.)
Prices were comparable to, or slightly higher than, those at stores specializing in organics. Strawberries were $3.49 a pound, baby spinach was $5.99 for 11 ounces, celery was $1.98 a bunch, and carrots were $1.29 a pound.
Genuardi's Family Markets, a Norristown, Pa.-based unit of Pleasanton, Calif., supermarket giant Safeway Inc., carries organic Smart Chicken, a national brand produced by MBA Poultry, of Tecumseh, Neb.
We found only a half-dozen kinds of organic produce at Genuardi's Wynnewood store, much of it moderately priced, including mixed baby greens and baby spinach (both $5.29 a pound), baby carrots ($1.79 a pound), and hearts of romaine ($2.99 for an 11-ounce bag).
But Maryanne Crager, public affairs manager for Genuardi's, said the stores usually carry 25 to 30 organic produce items, depending on availability.
Meanwhile, the Whole Foods store a block away had about 60 organic varieties in stock, including blueberries ($3.99 a pint) and shiitake mushrooms ($12.99 a pound).
Mariposa Food Co-op, an independent, member-owned shop in West Philadelphia, had some of the lowest prices for both organic and conventional produce. Twelve organic staples cost $22.17 vs. $30.88 for the same items at Whole Foods. But selection, supply, space and lighting are limited.
Among 30 or so fresh organics, there were nine individual peaches ($1.26 a pound), four peppers ($2.04 a pound), and four cucumbers ($1.77 a pound). Organic red potatoes (97 cents a pound) and onions ($1.10 a pound for yellow; $1.13 for red) are sold from cartons.
Prices for organics often were more than double those of the conventional crops, in part because the conventional items were so inexpensive. Peaches were 68 cents a pound; green peppers, 71 cents a pound; and red potatoes, 34 cents a pound. A market basket of seven identical items cost $13.03 for organic produce and $5.90 for conventional.
The Selene Whole Foods Co-op in Media, Pa., was founded as a source for vegetarian foods, but recently began selling organic ground beef and poultry, too. It stocks only organic produce, in limited quantities, with fresh supplies arriving from Pennsylvania's Lancaster County every Friday. Less perishable items _ potatoes, onions, apples and such _ are sold straight from their shipping cartons.
Twelve items on our shopping list totaled $24.29, compared with $32.90 for the same items at Whole Foods. (Those organic cherries bit again, accounting for almost $6 of the difference.)
Ironically, late summer's peak produce season is the slowest time at the co-op, said manager Ira Josephs, who closes the store for a week every August.
About half of Selene's 200-plus members, he said, also belong to CSAs - community-supported agriculture farming operations - in which members prepay local growers for a share of their season's crops. That direct-from-the-farm sourcing, along with out-of-town vacations, means fewer summer shoppers at the store.
ORGANIC PICKS FOR THE PESTICIDE-WARY
The fruits and vegetables on this list retain the most pesticide residues when not organically grown:
Peaches
Strawberries
Apples
Spinach
Nectarines
Celery
Pears
Cherries
Potatoes
Bell peppers
Raspberries
Imported grapes
Source: Environmental Working Group