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The growth of processed food purchases has been accompanied by a much smaller but nonetheless significant rise in sales of organic products. According to the Organic Trade Association, a membership-based association for the industry in North America, sales of organic foods and beverages reached $29.22 billion in 2011, a 9.5 percent increase over the previous year and more than 28 times the $1 billion of organics purchased in 1990. Organic food sales now represent 4.2 percent of all US food sales, up from 4 percent in 2010. Grocery stores have responded to this increase by offering customers a range of organic products. According to the association, 55 percent of all organic food and beverages sold in the United States were available at national grocery chains, club and warehouse stores and other massmarket merchandisers — the same places where shoppers have traditionally purchased processed food. Natural health
food stores accounted for another 38 percent of sales, with an additional 7.4 percent being sold at farmers’ markets. Although organic foods are often more expensive than conventional products, many shoppers are willing to pay higher prices to obtain what they perceive as better quality merchandise. Like Singleton, several customers recently shopping at Whole Foods on Arroyo Parkway cited the “healthiness” of organic products as one of their primary reasons for patronizing the store. Whole Foods, an Austin, Texas-based chain with two stores in Pasadena, boasts it was “the first nationally certified organic grower in the United States.” Sprouts Farmers Market, another national grocery chain with a store in Pasadena, also offers organic foods. The chain describes itself as a hybridization of natural foods store, a farmers’ market and a conventional supermarket,” featuring both “conventional” and organic produce. Organic produce can also be purchased at Trader Joe’s, a
PHOTO: Robb Kendrick (Cucumbers)
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DINING GUIDE 2012 PASADENA WEEKLY
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