Organic Food

Essay from the year 2008 in the subject Hotel Industry / Catering, grade: B, University of Derby, 18 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: In recent decades, rapid changes in the health status of children and adults have occurred in most developed countries. An increase in prevalence of several chronic diseases, such as obesity and degenerative pathologies affects all age groups. These diseases are strongly associated with food intake and food choices. (Bellisle 2003) According to Magkos et al. (2006) consumer are concerned about the safety and quality of conventional food in recent years. He argues further that the preference for organic food is associated with multiple factors. Nowadays people are more interested in animal welfare, environmental protection and personal health. Harper (2002) claims that people know too little about the additives of conventional food, such as hormones, pesticides, herbicides and antibiotics. The fact that consumers purchase organic food mainly for health reasons is supported by many other researchers. (Klonsky 2000, Makatouni 2002, Fillion and Arazi 2002. Organic food is the fastest growing sector of the food market in Australia, Northern America, Japan and Europe. Nonetheless the sales of organic food still account only 1 % of the total food market. The growth in many countries is between 20 and 30 per cent annually (Makatouni 2002). More and more people try to be ethical. A number of surveys have identified that a key factor of purchasing organic food is because of ethical reasons. Being ethical and being an ethical consumer means purchasing products which do not harm the society or the environment. This could be as complex as boycotting goods produced by child labour or as simple as buying free-range eggs. Organic food is produced according to a set of principles and standards concerning such issues as pesticides, additives, animal welfare and sustainability. (BBC UK) Sales of organic food in the UK have increased dramatically in recent years. According to the latest Soil Association Organic Market Report, sales were up by 30 per cent in the UK on the previous year. (Soil Association UK, 2006)