News Coverage
Stores stocking more organic products
Supermarkets are responding to consumer demands
Published July 28, 2003
The Scott's Foods store at the corner of Stellhorn and Maplecrest roads is the first in the chain to create a special area specifically for organic and natural foods and health-food items.
But a growing number of consumers have made up their minds, and that's reflected in the number of mainstream supermarkets that are now stocking a variety of organic and natural products.
"That's the way the market is starting to turn," said Sylvia Emerson, supermarket team leader at the Meijer Inc. store on Lima Road.
Michigan-based Meijer decided, at the corporate level, to boost its supply of organic and natural products at all its superstores.
Competitor Wal-Mart, on the other hand, stocks organic products only in stores where there is a demand, said spokeswoman Karen Burke. The majority of stores have at least a few products, Burke said, "but there is a different selection depending on what customers want."
Meijer's stock of organic items includes organically grown produce, soy milks, cheeses, yogurts and other dairy items as well as dry groceries made with ingredients produced without the use of herbicides or pesticides.
Meijer also has three lines of "natural," but not quite organic, meats.
"What 'natural' means is that 300 days before they are slaughtered, they stop giving the animals antibiotics, hormones, whatever," Emerson said.
The Larkwood Farms chicken and Red River beef, introduced at Meijer several months ago, have been selling well despite being priced higher than comparable, conventional meats, Emerson said. The Yorkshire Farms natural pork products, a more recent addition, are also expected to do well.
Emerson doesn't believe the recent mad cow scares have anything to do with consumers' choices. Meijer decided to increase its organic food and natural meat product lines because that's what customers have been asking for.
"It's been talked about for several years. You wouldn't want to bring something in if there is no demand," Emerson said.
The amount of land in the United States devoted to organic farming is a very small percentage. In 1997, the last year for which data was available, the United States had 309.4 million acres of harvested cropland. Allen County alone had 230,000 acres.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, the number of acres of certified organic cropland in the United States increased 53 percent between 1997 and 2001.
The Fort Wayne-area Scott's stores carry a variety of organic fruits and vegetables, and most of it has to be trucked in from California. Just shipping the items in costs about $4,000 per truckload, said Scott's produce merchandiser Greg Jones.
The grocery store chain, owned by Supervalu Inc., had to go outside the corporate supply channels for its organic items, and the number and variety of products isn't always consistent.
"At any given time, we try to carry about 25 different (produce) items," Jones said. "But we really struggle with supply. There are no national companies doing this. The big growers, the Sunkists of the world, are not into organics."
Because organic produce has a shorter shelf life and there are fewer organic growers and higher production and transportation costs, the retail price of organics is always higher.
Research by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis found, however, that consumers were willing to pay a "significant premium" for foods they perceived as less risky.
And an Ohio State University survey, presented last month at an agricultural communications forum in Kansas City, Mo., reported consumers ranked pesticide residues as the highest among seven perceived risks to food safety.
Although the USDA launched a nationwide organic food certification program in 2002, it still maintains there is no evidence organic foods are safer.
The Environmental Working Group, an advocate of organic products, has called for the USDA to change its position, at least regarding the impact of certain pesticides on children.
It cited a University of Washington study, published in 2002, that found children fed an organic diet had lower amounts of organophosphorus pesticides in their systems.
OP pesticides are classed as developmental neurotoxins and are among the pesticides targeted by the Environmental Protection Agency for their potential threat to children.
But young adults, not families with small children, are the most likely buyers of organic products, Scott's has found.
Until recently, Scott's scattered its nonproduce organic and natural items -- everything from canned baby food to chips, cereal, salsa and cleaning products -- throughout all its stores. That was partly to help customers find, compare and choose products more easily, said Nick Ciocca, Scott's general manager and executive vice president.
The items also were dispersed because the number of organic and natural products available didn't seem to be large enough to warrant a dedicated space.
But when workers were stocking the new Chestnut Plaza Scott's in preparation for its November opening, "we realized how many organic things there were," Jones said.
The grocery chain decided to experiment with a new format. Two months ago, it created a store-within-a-store organic and natural products section at its Stellhorn Village location.
"When that category explodes, then we'll probably make that a department in some of our other stores," Ciocca said.
Kroger's already has dedicated organic product departments in all but one of its Fort Wayne stores, said Jeff Golc, Kroger's Indianapolis manager of public affairs. The "Nature's Market" concept goes back to 1999.
"We wanted to identify a 'natural' destination point so shoppers would know where to go."
Kroger's State Boulevard store is too small for a Nature's Market section. But the Dupont Road, Southgate, St. Joe Center Road and U.S. 24 West stores all have them.
"It all relates to customer demand," Golc said. "I think people are more educated about what's in food. People today are just more health-conscious."