November 19, 1999. Copyright 1999. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

ORGANIC FOOD MARKET GROWS

LONDON, November 19, Graphic News: ORGANIC FOOD is increasingly popular, and UK farmers cannot produce enough, a report by market analysts Mintel said on Friday.

Sales of organic food in Britain rose 40 percent in the last year, driven by consumer worries about genetically modified produce and the effects of BSE.
ÒAs food-related scares escalate, the organic food market has proved to be dynamic,Ó said senior market consultant James McCoy.
The report said seven in ten Britons have bought organic products and a fifth of all baby foods sold in the UK are organic. Sales are expected to reach £550 million pounds in 1999.

Britain has been shaken by a series of food safety scandals over recent years. Widespread Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Ð mad cow disease Ð in the national cattle herd led to British beef exports being banned from world markets from 1996 until last July. A new variant of the human brain-wasting ailment Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, believed to be linked to BSE, has so far resulted in the deaths of about 40 people in Britain.

Trial crops of genetically modified foods have provoked spectacular demonstrations by environmentalists amid widespread public fears of damage to the environment and public health.

The survey said that due in part to such scares, organic food has cast off its Òbeard and sandalsÓ image and is now a mainstream purchase.
ÒOrganic food and farming has struck a chord with the publicÓ said Simon Brenman of the Soil Association.

ÒThere is now an unprecedented level of demand which is currently not being met by UK producers.

ÒWe are importing over 70 percent of all organic food sold in the UK. The government needs to respond to public opinion and recognise that the development of sustainable agriculture cannot be left to market forces alone.Ó

For the second year running, the amount of land being farmed organically, or being converted to organic methods, has doubled, and now stands at 240,000 hectares. The Soil Association has challenged the government to set a target of 30% organic production by 2010.

ÒThe message is clear,Ó Mr Brenman said. ÒThe more people know about the way their food is produced, the stronger their loyalty to organics becomes.Ó

/ENDS
Sources: Reuters, Mintel