Green Food Trends

• While most surveys indicate that organic purchases are becoming a victim of the recession, a new JD Power canvass (press release attached) shows that the introduction of organic products via store brands helped elevate private label from just "cheap imitations" of brand names to unique offerings. Singled out for special mention are Whole Foods and Safeway's O-Organics line.

• Whole Foods isn't resting on those laurels, nor the distinction of being the first US retailer to have all its stores certified organic: it is partnering with Bosch Appliances to give away their high-end Evolution refrigerators stocked with organic and natural products.

• The organic movement has pressed for more than simply removing additives, hormones and pesticides from the food chain, arguing that agriculture and farming must sustainable. The Smithsonian Museum recently hosted a symposium on sustaining the world's seafood stocks. Demand for fish has reduced some stocks to perilously low levels, and fish farms have drawn the ire of environmentalists and some scientists for pollution, incubating water-borne diseases and parasites, and introducing hormones and synthetic colors to seafood. Participants in the round table argued that if fish stocks aren't sustainable, then the advantages of eating fish will be wiped out by the environmental impact.

• The sustainability question has reached McDonald's which has been pressured to shift its potato supplies away from the heavy use of pesticides. The company is feeling the pressure, and has promised to consider a shift.

• In a nod to the commercial and public relations advantages of "buy local," foodservice giant ARAMARK has indicated it will “shop locally” for suppliers, introduce biodegradable service ware, encourage composting, and facilitate the recycling of bottles, cans, cardboard and frying oil through the its Green Thread program.

• PepsiCo is introducing a new environmentally-friendly vending machine they claim will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12%. The machines will use CO2 for a refrigerant instead of hydrofluorocarbons, but the company says gases from the insulation foam and refrigerant make up only 5% of the machine’s carbon footprint with fully 95% coming from the energy required to power it. The company is also testing machines using isobutane and propane as refrigerants.

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