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. Your One-Stop Photo Stop with 10% Student Discount! 18th & Willamette Marketplace West 484-6116 342-1167 « 1 BAR MENU SPECIALS 4-9 PM Soups, salads, hors «rm. 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