Growers and Grocers

Many thanks to Kate at Accidental Hedonist for the original inspiration for this story.

A funny thing has happened on the way to eating healthier over much of 2006. Organics have positively exploded on grocery store shelves, making well-informed consumer decisions more difficult than ever. A while back, I wrote about the USDA’s organic standards, and how skeptical I am of anything with that USDA: Organic sticker on it. Wal-Mart has entered the organic market, and their ad about the organics available at Wal-Mart is in super-heavy rotation in my local television market. And the latest news is that Kellogg’s has entered into the game, making an organic version of Raisin-Bran ®, Rice Krispies ®, Frosted Mini-Wheats ® and Toasted Harvest Wheats ® crackers.

As with any story, there are two sides. On the one hand, anytime the organic market expands, theoretically, more people will pick the organics off of the grocery store shelves to take home. Any time more people are eating foods that contain fewer pesticides and fewer fertilizers, that’s a great thing. When more and more people choose organic, that allows the market to expand further, which guarantees that there will be more organic choices for all consumers.

On the other hand, as I’ve mentioned previously, the enforcement of organic standards is haphazard at best. So can you trust that organic label? My own personal answer is “not really.” And I’m too much of a skeptic to think that anything other than the almighty dollar is behind Kellogg’s move into the organics market. Kellogg’s own website says the following about price points for the new organics, “the organic ingredients we use are more expensive, making the cereals more costly to produce.”

To me, the interesting part of Kellogg’s Organics website are the links to several organic trade groups. I’ve spent some considerable time searching and am surprised to report that there does not seem to be a huge amount of money flowing back and forth between Kellogg’s and these industry groups; there seem to be no board members who work directly for Kelloggs. Among the links you’ll find on Kelloggs.com: The Organic Trade Association, The Organic Center, All Organic Links, and Organic.org I wonder how Kellogg’s negotiates such things, and if money does indeed change hands, or if hundreds of lawyers are involved.

I don’t eat cold cereals for breakfast, so asking if I plan to begin purchasing these instead of my “usual” breakfast cereal is a bit of a moot point. For me, the caloric value is too high for most servings of cereal (usually 1/4 to 3/4 of a cup for a serving of your typical cold cereal) to be worth it. And I’m hungry by 10 AM if I have a bowl of cereal instead of some protein. While I’m pleased that the organic market is expanding, I’m very wary of that expansion. And if price is the overriding factor in your grocery store decision making process, then I suspect that you won’t be picking up Kellogg’s Organics either.