“Organic food, once touted as the key to improving dietary health… is not living up to its wholesome green credentials,” Britain’s Channel Four reports. Consumers have a “growing cynicism about how healthy organic food actually is,” and many “say the cost — often twice that of normal produce,” just isn’t worth it. Writes one commentator: “People are beginning to believe that organic food is a bit of a con, that it is not all that it is cracked up to be.”
Of course, as one advertising expert puts it, “eco-friendly is… a huge business.” And writing in The Chicago Tribune, Marian Burros warns: “[in] the early days of organic food… anyone could claim a food was organically grown.” But today, “self-starting watchdogs… like the Rain Forest Alliance charge for their seal of approval.” That, too, drives up consumer prices. (For more on such groups, visit ActivistCash.com.)
But those in the organic biz think the more expensive food is, the better off the world is: As Theresa Marquez, marketing director for Organic Valley, has said: “The question is not, why is organic food so expensive. The question is, why are the foods we are eating now so cheap.”