UNIVERSITY
Organic food gets mixed response
Consumers shy away from higher prices
By April Brinkman
Emerald Contributor
Are shoppers willing to buy
imperfect-looking fruits and
vegetables grown without pes
ticides?
According to a recent OS
I’lRC survey, the answer would
appear to be yes, but a better
question might be, are they
willing to pay more for them?
An October report by the Or
egon Student Public Interest
Research Croup claims con
sumers prefer cosmetically
scarred, organically grown pro
duce to fruits and vegetables
that are unblemished but chem
ically treated
originally shunned scarred or
slightly damaged oranges
showed more willingness to
buy imperfect fruit after they
were told it was grown with
fewer pesticides.
However, many local food re
tailers say they have found or
ganically grown unprofitable.
People appear to talk and
request organics more than is
translated into their buying
habits." said Bridget Flanagan.
Safeway's public affairs manag
er for Oregon and southwest
Washington.
Both Safeway and Albertsons
stores have experimented with
organically grown produce but
have received only nominal in
terest from customers.
"We tested selling organical
ly grown produce in Southern
California and Florida and were
not able to sell enough so that
it would even be worth the
shelf space," said Steve Hilton.
Albertsons national director of
product quality and environ
mental programs.
Safeway sells organically
grown fruit in 1-t of its 102
stores in the region. Flanagan
sail! "Sales are OK. but people
have not taken as great of an in
terest as we thought they
would." she said.
Some food wholesalers found
interest in organically grown
foods to be a short-lived trend.
"A year ago there was a lot of
talk against pesticides; the re
sistance doesn't seem to be
there anymore," said Pat Ba
ccellieri, an owner of Pioneer
Foods, one of the suppliers for
the University housing depart
ment.
"People are starting to con
sider the use of pesticides as a
healthy way to grow produce."
Jody Watts, housing depart
ment purchasing agent, said
she was not aware that the de
'* MUNOQMNP *'
GACAT fOm PAM TICS AMO BlMTMOAYS
High prices have caused some shoppers to stay away frttm or
ganically grown produce, such as the apple on the right.
partment's suppliers even of
fered organically grown pro
duce.
"We’d be willing to try it."
she said. "We look at both
quality and price."
According to the OSP1RG re
port. the amount of agricultural
chemicals used on the nation’s
food supply has increased nine
times in the last 41) years
Ron Willoughby, an owner of
All-Fresh Produce, another
food supplier for University
Housing, doesn't see the in
crease as necessarily a bud
thing. He said produce quality
is 10 times better today than in
the past because of pesticides.
However, others disagree.
OSPIRG consumer advocate
|ohn Stubenvoll said the claim
that pesticides create better
produce "goes by the assump
tion that eating a small amount
of a probable human carcino
gen is safe ”
A report released in Septem
ber by OSPIRG's national office
found that 69 pesticides linked
to cancer are legally allowed on
food by the federal govern
ment.
Willoughby said truly organi
cally grown produce accounts
for only about 2 percent of agri
cultural production. In the mar
ketplace. a small supply means
consumers often pay higher
prices for naturally grown
foods.
Students and other consum
ers may find themselves caught
between their desire to buy pes
ticide-free produce and their
desire to stretch their food
budgets as far as possible
University s o p h o m o r o
Natanya Myers said shu tries to
buy organic fruits and vegeta
bles when they are available
and when it is convenient.
"There shouldn’t have to l>e
an extra expense for organically
grown fruit,” she said. "It
should be the norm."
In the OSP1RC study. 241
people were shown a cosmetic
ally perfect orange grown with
pesticides, and then shown two
other oranges with two differ
ent levels of damage
When first asked, titi percent
of those surveyed said they
were not likely to buy the
slightly damaged orange, and
74 percent said they would stay
away from the more severely
scarred orange.
However, after hearing an ex
planation of reduced pesticide
use. consumers in the survey
substantially increased their
support for the imperfect or
anges.
Seventy-eight percent said
they wen; more willing to pur
chase the slightly damaged or
ange. and 71 percent said they
were willing to buy the severe
ly scarred orange.
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