Posted on 05/19/2008 7:37:47 PM PDT by blam
Shoppers to 'abandon organic food to cut bills'
By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:29AM BST 20/05/2008
Middle-class shoppers will be forced to abandon organic and fair trade food as inflation continues to climb, a new report warns.
Retailers have not yet reported any fall off in organic food sales
Shoppers who have previously been willing to pay up to 50 per cent more for organic meat, or fair trade coffee, could soon ignore ethical concerns in favour of keeping their shopping bills down.
The prediction comes from the influential forecasting group, the Ernst & Young ITEM club, which warns food inflation – running at 6.6 per cent, according to Government data – could get worse.
Joel Segal, the head of consumer products at the accountancy firm, said: "We are in a perfect economic storm and we are still seeing plenty of dark clouds ahead.
"Higher-end consumers will have to make a trade off. Either they stick to their principles, or – as they batten down the hatches – they may decide that they can live without fair trade or organic in order to avoid cutting back in other areas."
No retailer has reported any fall off in organic food, so far. Indeed, sales of free-range eggs and organic chickens rose earlier this year, following a series of television programmes presented by Jamie Oliver, the celebrity chef, highlighting poultry welfare.
However, Mr Segal points out that both organic and fair trade food commands a considerable premium over standard food lines.
Organic chicken at Asda, for instance, costs £14.49 a kilo, compared with £9.98 for a standard chicken, or £6.89 for Asda's value range chickens.
Trading figures suggest that many households are trying to cut down on their food bills by shopping at cheaper supermarkets.
Sales at Aldi, Netto and Lidl, known for their pile-them-high-sell-them-cheap approach to retailing, enjoyed sales growth of 13 per cent on average over the past three months.
Ernst & Young also warns that people at the bottom end of the economic scale will be faced with a far bleaker choice than that facing middle-class shoppers.
"Some will be faced with a tough choice of eating or heating their home," said Mr Segal.
"For some pensioners it will be very tough, but they will either have to rein in their consumption levels or they will have to reduce spending elsewhere."
The Ernst & Young forecast is part of an in-depth report into inflation, which says that 60,000 jobs could be lost in Britain if the Bank of England raises interest rates to keep inflation within the Government's target of two per cent. Last week Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, warned that the official inflation rate, already at three per cent, will probably hit 3.7 per cent later this year.
A spokesman for the Soil Association, the organic food certifying body, said shoppers could save money without ditching their organic favourites by choosing seasonal and local food. Riverfood Organic, which runs one of the largest vegetable box schemes, has found that supermarket organic food, on some lines, is 70 per cent more expensive than the same produce at farmers' markets or local shops.
This month, the Duke of Edinburgh challenged the benefits of organic farming, one of the Prince of Wales's greatest passions. In an interview with Sir Trevor McDonald, the Duke said: "It is not an absolute certainty that it (organic farming) is as useful as it sounds.
"You have got to be emotionally committed to it – but if you stand back and be open minded about it, it is quite difficult to really find where it has been a real benefit.''
roflmao!
Actually, my local farmers market sells produce, much of it organic, CHEAPER than the local supermarches.
Gasp...you mean that...CAPITALISM, or the “free market”, as the Repukes refer to it, will win over free-range vegetables? I shudder.
I myself am fully committed to 100% orgasmic food products.
Now I won't have to endure all the sticker-covered Subarus wandering around aimlessly near the (now closed) Whole Foods market on my way to and from work.
I'll remember that. I have a pornographic memory.
“fair trade coffee”
Can’t imagine paying those prices. For the past year I’ve been drinking vacuum packed Chick-Fil-A dark roast from truck salvage market for $1.47 lb.
LOL
Does this mean I have to give up my free range Mac & Cheese?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Daddy slaps down Prince Chuckie!
I'm a Vagitarian myself...
Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula? I mean, they’re charging a lot of money for this stuff.
You FR elitists keep tallking about this 'arugula'. What the heck is it? Is it the weed that grows in my backyard, killing my beautiful St.Augustine's grass lawn?
Those suckers pay roughly $7 a pound for the non-organic “value” chicken? Heck, and I thought $1.49 a pound for whole chicken was bad.
You will have to pry the Rugola and Escarole from my COLD DEAD HANDS!!!
Funny to read this, just today I picked up two bottles of fancy-ass store brand organic Italian salad dressing for 75% off in the clearance bin at the local supermarket. It’s good to get cheap marinade!
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