Organic food refers to food items that are produced, processed and packaged wihtout using chemicals. Organic food is increasingly becoming popular due to its perceived health benefits over conventional food. The industry is growing rapidly since the past five years and has caught the attention of farmers, manufacturers and, above all, consumers.

The global organic food market was about USD 36.7 billion in 2006 according to Datamonitor. Over 30 percent of the global organic demand stems from the US, which has a market of about USD 13.6 billion, according to Nutrition Business Journal.

The organic revolution is a global phenomenon witnessed in every part of the world including the US (specially California, New York, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Virginia and Pennsylvania), Canada, Mexico, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and South Africa. These regions are important production as well as demand centers.

Popular organic food items include organic tea, organic coffee, organic wine, organic meat, organic beef, organic milk, organic honey, organic vegetables, organic fruits, organic rice, organic corn, organic herbs, organic essential oils, organic coconut oil and organic olive oil.

But the organic concept is not limited to food items. Due to execcesive usage of harmful chemicals in cosmetics, people are turning towards organic cosmetics also . One can often see organic skin care products, organic shampoos, organic soaps, and organic make up products on the shelves of organic stores.

Organic cotton clothing, especailly organic baby clothing is also a growing market. Parents prefer to pay a higher premium to protect the skin of their babies from rashes caused by the chemicals used in textiles.

Since organic food costs about 20% more than conventional food, many people also prefer to grow organic food in their home gardens. The conventional gardening is being replaced by organic gardening which uses organic seeds, organic fertilizers, compost, organic root stimulators, and organic pest control.

Organic farming is also a viable means of sustainance for small farmers in the developing countries. Most of the organic fertilizers and pesticides requirement can be met through on-farm and local production. Hence, organic farming does not involve huge capital investments in buying fertilizers and pesticides. Small farmers, therefore, find organic farming beneficial.

Tips for Organic Food Customers
1. You can get organic food at a number of places including the following:

• Local health food stores: The best place to get organic food is the local health food stores. Initially you will have to do some search to find these stores. Look into the yellow pages, ask an organic association near you or search on the Internet. Once you have a list of health food stores in your locality ready with you, shopping organic food will become as easy as any other food item.
• Farmers' market: If you are fortunate enough to live in a place which is close to the country-side, an organic farmers' market should be easily accessible to you. But how do you come to know about the market? Ask others. Ask other consumers whom you meet in health food stores, the managers of the health food stores you visit, organic food associations, and officials at government agriculture departments.
• Farms: You can also purchase organic food directly from organic farms. Utilize your weekends for this purpose. Having an outdoor trip in the country-side will refresh your mind and would also ensure healthy food for you to eat throughout the week. Finding organic farms in your vicinity is very difficult. Again the solution is - ask others.
• Large retail chains: Large retail chains are the easiest place to get organic food. Almost all retail chains sell organic food; look for organic food shelves. One interesting retail chain is the Whole Foods Market, which is a specilized retail chain selling only natural and organic food. Whole Foods Market is present primariyl in the US. It has expanded into the UK and Canada as well.
• Online stores: There are numerous online stores which prov ide delivery at your doorstep with minimal shipping charges. Search for them on the Internet.

2. But be careful, if the board of a store or a shelf in it displays organic does not necessarily mean that the products sold there are organic. Ideally, they should be. But some people can try to cheat you. Hence search on the packet the label / logo of the certification body that has monitored and approved the production and processing of the food item as organic. If a shopkeeper sells you (organic) food without a proper label, then he/she may be cheating you. Just today (December 30, 2007) itself, we found a leading egg manufacturer selling eggs in a leading retail chain with the label 'Like Organic Eggs'. The word 'like' was in a small font in a similar color as the background. The word 'Organic' was in a big font in green color. There was no label of any certifying agency. When we enquired about details of the product, the store manufacturer did not have any answer.

3. So the next step is to know which organizations are authorized to sell organic food in your region. You can find this on the Internet or the best way is to ask the officials in government agriculture departments.

4. Finally, you need to keep a watch on the price. The price of organic food is about 10% to even 200% higher than conventional food. Also, many store keepers buy the organic food directly from a farm. The price of a food item in an organic food store depends on whether the shop keeper knows a farmer who sells the food item at a cheaper rate. A store may provide one product (say organic meat) cheapest in your locality, but another product (say organic tomato) may be expensive at that store. Another store may have organic tomato cheaper but organic meat may be expensive. So check out the prices of different food items in different stores and buy accordingly.

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