Impact of Recession on Organic Sales Not Major, Suggests Recent Survey
By MARY DAVIS, QFFI Correspondent

“Get with the purple berry,” says Sambazon, the manufacturer of Original Rio-Style Organic Acai Sorbet. The product, which contains powerful antioxidants, is promoted as “super healthy” and “super tasty.”

“The organic food industry has an opportunity to instill trust and educate consumers as we work our way out of this recession,” says Mintel senior analyst David Browne.

Unless the economic recession deepens into a depression, it would seem that most consumers of organic food in the USA will continue to spend money on what is perceived to be healthy-eating products.

A recent survey from Mintel, a Chicago-headquartered market research firm, shows that nearly 40% of American consumers claim they haven’t changed organic product purchasing habits because of the recession, and only three percent have stopped buying organic products altogether.

“Heavy users of natural and organic food and drink are most likely to indicate they’ve traded down to less expensive organic options,” noted David Browne, senior analyst at Mintel. “However, less-frequent consumers of organic products have shown that they haven’t shifted their behavior. This is good news for the organic food and drink market, as this group may begin to buy more once recession-related fears begin to fade.”

Julie’s Organic Sorbet Blackberry Bars sell for $2.99 per four-pack. Each piece contains only 60 calories and is Parve Certified Organic by Organiccertifiers.com.

With a slight decline in supermarket sales during 2009 (-0.3%), Mintel and natural products industry expert SPINS expect the organic food and drink market to recover gradually during 2010-12, but not at pre-recession growth rates. Consumers have made shifts in their purchasing behavior that are likely to carry on through this time period.

Currently, only one-third (33%) of survey respondents trust the term “natural” on labels, and nearly half (45%) trust the term “organic.” However, roughly 30% of respondents say they don’t know if they can trust either term.

Recession or not, there is no shortage of innovative frozen organic offerings available in the freezer sections of conventional supermarkets these days. Among them are products made from the fruit of the açai palm (pronounced ah-sigh-EE), which typically grows on the edges of the Amazon forest in Brazil.

Loaded with anthocyanin, an antioxidants, as well as vitamins E and B1, potassium, iron, calcium, Omega-3, 6, and 9 fatty acids, the fruit has become a trendy health food worldwide.

Among marketers of the fruit is Sambazon. The San Clemente, California-headquartered company, which has been producing frozen açai pulp in Brazil since 2000, reportedly generated sales of $25 million last year. As the leading supplier to the US market, Sambazon (which is short for Saving and Managing the Brazilian Amazon) processed 11,000 tons of açai in 2008. In addition to selling organic açai beverages and supplements, it offers organic açai in frozen form as sorbet and as smoothie packs.

This writer tried the Original Rio Style sorbet, which cost $5.49 per pint. The sorbet has a deep purple color, like the fruit itself. At first serving it came across as sweet, but without much flavor. When another sorbet was tried later, a fruit flavor seemed more apparent but was still not strong.

The company also markets two blends with açai: Mango Uprising and Strawberry Samba. The brothers who founded the product line wanted to develop a business concern that would help preserve the rain forest by providing an alternative to logging. However, now that the berry has become a commercial success, there is danger that forests will be cut to plant palm trees.

The owners of Sambazon hope that insistence of customers for organic açai will enforce sustainable practices within or beside existing forests.

In frozen organic vegetables and fruit, private labels are quite conspicuous. Kroger’s Private Selection Organic fruit offerings include bags of mangos, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and strawberries. The price recently was $3.99 a bag, on sale for $3.39, but the number of ounces contained therein varied with the type of fruit.

A staff member at a Whole Foods store told Quick Frozen Foods International that, despite the wide array of products in its freezer cases, the types of frozen items that sell best are vegetables and fruit – with vegetables far and above way ahead of fruit. She singled out blueberries as being the most popular fruit.

The manager of frozen foods at a cooperative also pointed out blueberries as a top seller, pointing to a display of Tree of Life organic blueberries from Canada. “They sell like crazy,” he commented.

Plenty of Desserts to Choose From

Oregon Ice Cream churns out the Julie’s brand, an extensive line of organic pints, quarts and novelties, including organic Blackberry Sorbet Bars. Each unit weighs 2.5 fluid ounces and has only 60 calories. The price was $2.99 at Healthy Living store in Burlington, Vermont.

Another item from this company is Mint Fudge ice cream in pint cartons, selling for $3.79 at Kroger. Also from Oregon Ice Cream are Alden’s organic products. A 48-ounce tub of Vanilla Bean or Blackberry cost $3.69 at Good Foods Co-op in Lexington, Kentucky.

Horizon Organics, which sells dairy products, has entered the realm of frozen desserts by introducing a line of six ice creams, including coffee and chocolate chip-peanut butter cup. The company obtains 80% of its milk from some 363 family farms across the country. The balance comes from two company-owned dairies.

PJ Madison’s, founded in 2002, is gaining an increasingly prominent place in specialty shops with its six kinds of organic super-premium gelato-style ice cream, the result of two distinct ice cream making techniques. The flavors include Bourbon Vanilla, Kashmir Cinnamon, and Bella Chocolate Cherry. Sweetening is accomplished with organic unrefined cane sugar.

Turtle Mountain recently introduced a new organic line, Purely Decadent with Coconut Milk. QFFI sampled Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl, which cost $4.99 a pint at Whole Foods. A slight taste of coconut milk was detected in the chocolate base, but it added to rather than detracted from the overall flavor. The product, like other items from Turtle Mountain, is dairy-free.

Additional items in the coconut-milk line include Cookie Dough and Mint Chip. New in the standard Purely Decadent range, without coconut milk, are Dulce de Leche, Key Lime Pie, Snickerdoodle, Belgian Chocolate and Blueberry Cheesecake. Turtle Mountain also sells organic products under an Organic So Delicious line.

Good Karma Foods has replaced Organic Rice Cream with Organic Rice Divine desserts. As the name indicates, the old and the new products are certified organic. The new brand, like the old, includes pints containing such flavors as Very Vanilla, Mudd Pie and Carrot Cake in packs of four cups filled with raspberry swirl or vanilla swirl, in addition to two kinds of bars. The pints were recently selling for $3.59 each at a Whole Foods store.

Wise Acre sells tubes of Frostea in three flavors: Jasmine Green Tea Delight, Cool Your Jets (a caffeine-free herbal tea with organic chamomile, lemon balm and spearmint), and Yerba Mate (an invigorating tea from South America). Also available are Frostbites, treats without tea, in two flavors: Maine Maple Lemon and Honey Love. They are sweetened with wild honey and organic maple syrup.

Rice Dream Supreme is a new range from the Hain Celestial Group. The flavors are imaginative: Chocolate Caramel Chai (in pints and in bars), Sweet Peach Pie and Vanilla Gingersnap (both in pints), and Vanilla Hazelnut Fudge (pints and bars). The Chocolate Caramel Chai is chocolate Rice Dream with caramel and chocolate chips, “spiced with sweet notes of chai,” and coated with chocolate.

Amy’s Kitchen has branched out into cakes, with two new frozen organic products: Orange Cake and Chocolate Cake, each in an 11-ounce loaf. The suggested retail price is $3.89 and $4.49 for the Orange Cake and $3.99 and $4.49 for the Chocolate Cake. Both are suitable for vegans.

Whole Treat is the name of Whole Foods’ private label desserts assortment. Among them is Organic Vanilla ice cream bars, dipped in chocolate or in chocolate and almonds. Four individually wrapped bars, totaling 18 ounces, cost $3.99. Whole Treat also includes organic ice cream sandwiches.

Green & Black’s, based in the UK, is best known for its tablets of organic chocolate, but it also offers pints of organic ice cream in vanilla, white chocolate, and other flavors. Each costs approximately $4.39.

Cyclops frozen yogurt, both probiotic and organic, is made in New Zealand in the silky Greek style. Flavors include Mango, Raspberry and Strawberry. Recently, a pint cost $4.99 at Whole Earth store.