Natural & Healthy Driving Organic Market Growth

CHICAGOOrganic food sales have grown 132 percent since 2002, while organic beverage sales nearly doubled during the same period, according to new research from Mintel, which suggested health and food safety concerns are helping drive market growth. Together, the organic food and beverage markets now make up a nearly $6 billion industry. "This isn't a niche market full of environmental health nuts and affluent

yuppies anymore," said Marcia Mogelonsky, senior research analyst, Mintel (Mintel.com). "Organic is now part of the picture for everyone from the Hispanic immigrant mother to the hip suburban teen next door. With health issues and food contamination cases in the news, many people have begun looking for safer, more natural food and drink." Mintel's research found more than half of Americans purchased organic foods in the past year, while over a quarter went for organic beverages. This is a notable increase from the 34 percent of consumers who bought either organic food or beverage products in 2002. What is more, nearly a third of adults now report purchasing organic products "as often as possible."

In additional news, Mintels Global New Products Database (GNPD) identified innovative new product trends set to make it big in 2008. Mintel predicts 2008 will be the beginning of a significant backlash against plain bottled water, as consumers become more aware of the environmental impact of shipping water from remote locations to their local supermarkets. Another trend is food ingredients increasingly appearing in beauty and even household cleaning products.