Pursuing Well-Seasoned Organic Opportunities

Sales of organic foods have nearly tripled since 1997, increasing between 17% and 21% each year, according to market research conducted by the Organic Trade Association, Greenfield, MA. In comparison, total food sales in the United States over the same time period have grown from 2% to 4% each year.

Clearly, consumer interest in organic food products is growing. In order to provide for the sales opportunities of its current customer base and develop potential for new clients, McClancy Seasoning Co. sought organic certification to package certified-organic products, and received that certification on May 1, 2007 from Oregon Tilth Certified Organic (OTCO), Salem, OR.

McClancy chose to pursue organic certification at this time, not out of an expressed need from any of our clients, but as an option that will allow us to react immediately to product placement in this niche from established product lines says Reid Wilkerson, president.

There is a great deal more to the business of organic products than the certification. Sourcing of the raw materials necessary to blend certifiable finished products is paramount to success in this area.

We recently undertook a study of a product that was all natural that a client wanted to market also as certified organic. This, of course, meant we had to find certified suppliers for all of the subcomponents, which we were able to achieve. We are currently working on finding good sources for organic certified products across our supplier network.

Each blend we create for organic approval must be approved by OTCO, Wilkerson continues. We provide them with a formulation and they evaluate it against their standards before it can be classified as organic. Mc- Clancy is certified to blend organic products based on our capabilities, but OTCO will look at other factors, including whether or not our suppliers are organic, for example.

McClancy Seasoning Co.
One Spice Road 
Fort Mill, SC 29715 
Phone: 800/843-1968 
Fax: 803/548-2379 
E-mail: [email protected] 
Website: www.mcclancy.com