Organic Takeover: Toxic Food Makers Lose $4 Billion in Sales in One Year

[Ares]

Food companies struggle to remain relevant as public demands organic

Consumers are leaving toxic food makers’ products behind on grocery store shelves faster than you can say ‘organic.’ Big Food lost $4 billion in sales last year alone due to their inability to answer market demand for non-GM, organic food that doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup, gluten, antibiotics, growth hormones, MSG, and other toxic additives. Meanwhile, organic food is absolutely exploding.

Big Food has a multi-billion dollar problem on their hands, and this is why they have spent so much money trying to defeat GMO labeling bills in multiple states – but they can’t get around the awakening public’s demand for better food. It is staring them right in the face.

Company’s like ConAgra (don’t let the ‘con’ in their name dissuade you) want to remake their image. So do big food makers like Smuckers and Campbell Soup Co.

“We understand that increasing numbers of consumers are seeking authentic, genuine food experiences,” said Campbell Soup Co CEO, whose stock is currently trading down, “and we know that they are skeptical of the ability of large, long-established food companies to deliver them.”

These CEOs pretend not to know why consumers don’t trust them. Could it be that they have fought against public requests to deliver real, non-genetically modified, or toxic additive-laden food for years, to no avail? Could it be because they have spent millions trying to keep the public from even knowing what is in their food?

Just how irrelevant are these companies becoming? An analysis by Moscow found that the top 25 US food and beverage makers have lost an equivalent of $18 billion of market share. That’s a big loss, and when you consider that organic food sales are slated for immense growth this year, and in the next decade, you’d think they would have taken the mild hints we’ve given them.

“Their existence is being challenged,” says Edward Jones analyst Jack Russo of the major packaged-food companies. Shoppers still value the convenience that food processing offers, says Moskow, “but the pendulum has definitely shifted in their minds. They [consumers[ have more and more questions about why this bread lasts 25 days without going stale.”

Too bad Big Food was hitting the snooze button. They can eat their toxic leftovers for breakfast, maybe, while looking over the Wall Street Journal at their failing stock prices – just take a look at McDonald’s as a shining example of how the food movement is igniting change.

http://www.infowars.com/organic-takeover-toxic-food-makers-lose-4-billion-in-sales-in-one-year/

[Twisted Titan]

and we are not even going to talk about the impact of home gardening

[expat4ever]

I noticed the local Krogers here just revamped both their stores and now as soon as you walk in they have huge produce sections with a very large organic section.
Maybe people are waking up.

[monty]

I noticed the local Krogers here just revamped both their stores and now as soon as you walk in they have huge produce sections with a very large organic section.
Maybe people are waking up.

http://www.businessinsider.com/krogers-strategy-to-take-over-grocery-stores-2015-3


A grocery chain no one talks about is becoming Whole Foods' biggest threat

http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/54f88e4869beddee666eb469-480/kroger-supermarket.jpgAssociated PressKroger's strategy is helping it buck trends in the industry.

Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are often praised for reinventing the grocery business.
But Kroger is thriving in a difficult market for grocery stores.

The supermarket chain has reported positive comparable-store sales for 45 straight quarters.

Kroger is also expected to surpass Whole Foods Market within two years and become the nation's top seller of organic and natural food, according to a recent report by JPMorgan Chase.

The chain is renowned for excellent its customer service, loyalty program, and extensive selection, Stephen Ward, commercial director of the research and consulting firm Conlumino, said in a note to clients.
Much like Costco and Aldi, Kroger mainly offers private-label products, keeping prices low.

The retailer's "strategy of offering more specialty and organic food is helping it overtake other chains despite an industry-wide trend away from supermarkets," JPMorgan analysts write.

Traditional supermarkets have been losing market share to high-end grocers, warehouse chains, and dollar stores because customers are seeking either specialty assortments or great value, according to a recent report by the real estate investment firm JLL (http://www.us.jll.com/united-states/en-us/Research/JLL-ShopTopic-Grocery-share.pdf?715e0e88-2c50-49df-8839-d50262c6066a).

"Millennials and Boomers alike are focusing more on healthy eating choices and creatively prepared meals," the analysts write (http://www.us.jll.com/united-states/en-us/Research/JLL-ShopTopic-Grocery-share.pdf?715e0e88-2c50-49df-8839-d50262c6066a).
http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5432fc4f6bb3f7b57ef96af1-1045-687/screen%20shot%202014-10-06%20at%204.31.26%20pm.pngJLL (http://www.us.jll.com/united-states/en-us/Research/JLL-ShopTopic-Grocery-share.pdf?715e0e88-2c50-49df-8839-d50262c6066a)Alternative retailers are taking market share from grocery stores.

Selling more organic food will attract high-end customers and help drive profits at Kroger, according to JPMorgan.

Kroger, which has more than 2,000 locations, could also take potential customers from Whole Foods.

Whole Foods has 411 locations but continues to expand into new markets.
http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5447ed90eab8ea2e428ac6bc-1200-800/ap120207143435.jpgAssociated Press Kroger has been stepping up sales of organic food.

In addition to offering more organic food, Kroger is expanding into affluent markets in Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

[Shami-Amourae]

Kroger is Fred Meyer out here. It's the one stop place for Organic. They even sell organic eggs with the orange yolks, raw lacto-fermented sauerkraut, raw cheese, and grass fed beef.

Oh and they have an ammo section. Yes in a grocery store. No joke.

:)

[ShortJohnSilver]

Note that "organic" may still not be optimal. Organic is an official designation of the USDA. You still need to be careful.

[Shami-Amourae]

Note that "organic" may still not be optimal. Organic is an official designation of the USDA. You still need to be careful.

You're right but the point is things are moving in a positive direction. This is mainly because more of the public is aware and paying attention so they can't get Jewed over as easily like they did before.

[brosil]

I've noticed the change in Kroger's. You have to look for non-organic produce now. There doesn't seem to be much of a price differential either. And yes, what the USDA considers organic wouldn't qualify by the state organic groups but it's a start.

[Dachsie]

Interesting topic.

Since we all have to go the grocery store at least once a week and they sell something we have to have to live, we ought to share all helpful info on buying food at groceries stores, I think, in one separate thread or forum.

Yes, it is good that stores are giving more space to "organic" but whenever a gigantic new market niche becomes clear to the profiteers, you can be sure it will be racketized in every loopholed way possible. I already see this in the words on the product - words there and words not there - official "organic certified" seals there and not there.

Yes, the awareness of grocery sellers of this new market, albeit very late it seems to me, is causing organic prices to come down nicely even being competitive with non-organic now.

But as I said I can already see scams capitalizing on the organic trend.

It would be fun to give examples of confusing labeling that leads you to believe you are buying organic but actually are not.

Oh well, I threw away the box yesterday but it was a box of "organic Cheerios" type of cereal. It was sweetened supposedly with organic cane sugar and had all kinds of altruistic wording on the label about how responsibly the oats and other ingredients were grown BUT the third-part certified organic seal was absent event though they sure used the word lots on the label.

but there are only 2 third-party official Organic seals

one is USDA certified organic

and

Non GMO Project
Verified
nongmoproject.org

When you get in to all this "third party" and government approved verification things,
every little phrase has an official definition and those are in obscure government regulations. The only thing "regular" about those regulations is that they change regularly. That is, the difinition of "organic" has recently been made less strict because it is just impossible for growers and producers to absolutely avoid all gmo, so the amount allowed in the product is now more to pass and get the approved seal. Yadda yadda - you get it.

Also, with all government regulations (laws) you need full vigorous ENFORCEMENT. That is totally not there at all.
With all government regulations for any area - food labeling, taxes etc. -- ALL ENFORCEMENT IS SELECTIVE. That means that some people get auditied because there is a political vendetta or punishment against that company's owners. etc.

[SWRichmond]

“We understand that increasing numbers of consumers are seeking authentic, genuine food experiences,” said Campbell Soup Co CEO, whose stock is currently trading down, “and we know that they are skeptical of the ability of large, long-established food companies to deliver them.”

Genuine, authentic food experience, as opposed to what? Toxic, chemically-enhanced poisoning experience? I haven't eaten canned soup in more than 6 years, and it was reading a Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup label as an informed consumer that convinced me not to. Multiple sources of free glutamate, excito-toxic artificial crap, devoid of actual food, but tastes fantastic.

[Dachsie]

One thing that will teach a person real fast about the toxicity of

processed foods = anything in can, bottle, jar or box

is the development of "leaky gut syndrome" which came on me suddenly in June of 2011. It broke through on me and in a three day period I was allergic to several new foods. I was breaking out in bad hives about 30 seconds after eating a food. I wrote a friend who was health journalist and he told me to read up on leaky gut and it described perfectly my situation.

If I avoid all the crap foods I can now go for as long as three weeks without the hives. I learned the hard way to never never take oral steroids as the present of those in the gut will cause food allergies to become not only hives but more like lethal anaphylactic shock. In other words your messed up gut immune system gets extra messed up when you put in some oral steroids. The reaction is now of a serious emergency situation and causes all sorts of new problems that you have to go to different kinds of doctors to fix.

So staying away from garbage foods becomes easier when you know you will receive immediate negative physical side effects.

But telling people when they are younger to stop eating garbage food does not work. Seems everyone has to learn the hard way.

70 percent of your immune system in the gut villi. Hives for some people - other symptoms for others.

[mick silver]

Is organic food any healthier? Most scientists are still skeptical.
http://www.vox.com/2014/7/16/5899347/organic-produce-debate-healthier-more-nutritious

[mick silver]

this morning we picked two five gallon buckets of fresh peas . life good

[Dachsie]

The whole issue is vastly more complicated than just buying organic.

"Most scientists are still skeptical."

Most of us are still skeptical of "most scientists" these days.

[singular_me]

exactly... here at the coop which sells lots of organic produces, has "organic seedless grapes"... seedless is GMO... and their organic avocados stay green for several hours after it was cut open.

the organic label is better but they also call organic produces grown organically... which is not the same.




Note that "organic" may still not be optimal. Organic is an official designation of the USDA. You still need to be careful.

[mick silver]

there nothing coming from china that's 0rganic ....Whole Foods, the self proclaimed 'worlds largest retailer of natural and organic foods (1)' is outsourcing production for many of its products from China, of all places. http://www.sott.net/article/245508-Whole-Foods-organic-comes-from-China The problems with this are that in China there is little to no oversight to ensure that 'organic' products meet USDA standards for food that qualifies as organic. In addition to this, no US agencies are allowed to monitor the legitimacy of these claims within the People's Republic of China, thus we have to take them at their word.

In a country where up to ten percent of the groundwater is contaminated by arsenic, zinc, cadmium and lead, one has to wonder about the quality of vegetables grown in China.

According to a report by ABC 7 Iteam (2), Whole Foods is selling products labeled as 'organic' which have been grown in China. The report goes on to state that neither Whole Foods nor the US government has agencies operating within China to verify that the products actually meet the 'organic' standards.

Whole Foods, according to the report, is misleading the masses into believing that their products do meet the USDA bar for organic products, although this may not be true.

While producers in the US must meet the USDA's requirements vz how a product is grown, processed and handled, foreign producers need not worry. The problem is that although foreigners 'should' be following the same protocol as their colleagues in the west do, there is no way to ensure that this is occurring.

More troublesome is the fact that foreign products carrying the 'organic' label face no form of inspection to verify that they are actually 'organic'.

Whole Foods Gaming the System?

In order to avoid the pesky hurdle of governmental oversight, Whole Foods, like so many other American firms has outsourced a potential problem. They rely on a Chinese third party to ensure quality standards are met.

The problem is that Whole Foods has outsourced the 'inspection' of local Chinese farmers to a third party in China. But, as Alexandra Harney explains in her book, The China Price, the quality of 'third party inspectors' in China is suspect at best. She explains that the reasons for poor quality in China's 'inspectors' range from ignorance of the processes they are attempting to verify, to corruption.

For Whole Foods part, however, they are merely shielding themselves from culpability. Should a problem arise, Whole Foods need only blame the third party.

Organic in China?

In order to be classified as organic in the US the produce must be
".. managed in accordance with the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA)...of the Code of Federal Regulations to respond to site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity ...are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives (3)" It is common knowledge that China's over use of pesticides (4) has contaminated both the food and the land. This becomes even more problematic when we see that aside from utilizing conventional pesticides, China still produces and uses DDT on its produce (5).

http://www.sott.net/image/s5/102603/medium/contaminated.jpg (http://www.sott.net/image/s5/102603/full/contaminated.jpg)

Contaminated Groundwater

Another problem is that aside from the overt use of dangerous chemicals in food processing, Chinese groundwater is terribly contaminated. And it is this same groundwater that is used in growing the crops that find their way onto the Chinese and US tables (7).
And when half of all the shallow groundwater in China being contaminated, one has to wonder if this food deserves to be called 'organic'. (8)

Pollution of all types is one of the reasons that cancer is now the leading cause of death in China and water pollution is supposedly to blame for the increase in stomach and liver cancer (9). Things are so bad that China now leads the world in both types of such cancers and water is partly to blame.

And in a country like China where 80% of the water is used for crop irrigation, the quality of the water supply has to be questioned (10). Unfortunately the prognosis is not good. For up until ten years ago, only 5% of household waste and 17% of industrial waste was even treated (11).

And this water is what becomes recycled into the groundwater which then becomes part of the crop producing cycle.

Food scandals are commonplace in China today (top ten list of Chinese food scandals), but Whole Foods seems unconcerned or perhaps they believe in their Chinese sub-contractors (12).

In response to the scathing report about Whole Foods, their company's blog refuted the ABC channel 7 Iteam report. They contend that among other things, "... a broccoli grower in China must be visited and certified to the USDA organic standards by a certifying agent that is approved and supervised by the USDA." (13)

But if one were to look closely they would see that Whole Foods is only claiming that, ".. a broccoli grower in China must be visited and certified to the USDA organic standards.." and not by the USDA. The difference between the two goes beyond semantics.

Whole Foods is claiming that Whole Foods is paying someone who is allegedly inspecting and holding Chinese growers to the same standards as are used by the USDA. But even Whole Foods cannot admit that anyone associated with the USDA, the body that enures the security of our food, ever tests or inspects any foreign grown organic foods.

It looks as if we must now inspect the 'made in' labels are our local grocers to see what it is that we are putting on our dinner plates each night.




References & Image Credits:

(1) www.wholefoodsmarket.com/
(2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBiI9KcJ9UY
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_food
(4) http://www.foodsafetychina.com/2011/10/pesticides-bring-a-silent-spring-pesticide-over-use-in-china/
(5) http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_42/b4005007.htm
(6) http://www.wri.org/publication/content/7833
(7) JINXIA WANG1, JIKUN HUANG1, AMELIA BLANKE2, QIUQIONG HUANG2 AND SCOTT ROZELLE As a share of total water supply,
groundwater has risen from a negligible amount across most of China to being a primary source of water for agriculture, industry and domestic use in many of the nation's most productive regions
(8) http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/183230.htm
(9) http://www.earth-policy.org/plan_b_updates/2011/update96
(10) JINXIA WANG1, JIKUN HUANG1, AMELIA BLANKE2, QIUQIONG HUANG2 AND SCOTT ROZELLE
(11) ibid
(12) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8476080/Top-10-Chinese-Food-Scandals.html
(13) http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/whole-foods-market-responds-to-wjla/

[ShortJohnSilver]

One time a truck driver I know, had to deliver some stuff to Whole Foods. He went to the HQ and in the parking lot - all expensive cars. The receiver told him the retail value of the 2 skids he brought them, was $13K . Their profit margins are HUUUUUGE.

[Dachsie]

"... profit margins are HUUUUUGE.

Yes, and this goes for not only Whole Foods but all the stores and online stores selling more healthy foods .

Watch market trends and take advantage and ride the wave for all its worth.

We poor consumers are fed one line of bull after another by the "doctors" about what we should eat to be healthy and we run around chasing each new line of BS (Bad Science).