More parents go organic on baby food

4 May, 2007: With awareness about environment gaining momentum worldwide, parents are getting more careful about protecting their children’s health and selecting their food.

Such parents are contributing to a boost in the sales of organic baby food and this trend has prompted more companies to either join or expand their products in the baby food sector.

The information once confined mainly to scientists – that pesticides and additives used to grow and preserve food are harmful humans, especially to children – is now available to the general public. Which is prompting an increasing number of parents to buy the likes of carrots, sweet potatoes and fruits from the producers of organic baby food.

In the United States, though organic food still accounts for a minute portion of the overall baby food market, it is certainly growing.

Whole Foods Market Incorporated says it has tripled the space allotted to organic baby products in the last five years. In 2006, baby food institution Gerber Products Company re-branded and broadened its organic line, while Abbott Laboratories introduced an organic version of its Similac baby formula.

The United States Department of Agriculture inspects producers of food to ensure that they meet the department’s standards for organic products. The Department of Agriculture’s standards for organic food products include banning the use of conventional pesticides, fertilisers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge as well as antibiotics or growth hormones for animals.

According to statistics, sales of organic baby food in the United States jumped by 21.6% to $116 million in the 52 weeks ending February 24, 2007, after having risen by 16.4% a year earlier. The overall sales of baby food rose by 3.1% to $3.7 billion in the same period. The data was collected from grocery, drug and mass market retailers of the United States, excluding Wal-Mart.

Gerber Products replaced its Tender Harvest brand in 2006 with a line named Gerber Organics and added products such as cereals, juice and food for toddlers. This change was meant to make it more manifest that the food was organic, according to the company that makes the baby food, which is owned by Novartis AG and now being sold to Nestle SA.

While Tender Harvest, which was introduced in 1997, was selling well, its growth was not matching the overall organic baby food category, a top official of the company said. This was one of the main reasons that made the company change the name of its products.