Mar
23
2008
Does anyone find it disturbing that natural, healthy, organic food is more expensive than regular food?
ahhihello asked:
I’m happy to see the trend of so many natural grocery stores opening but I feel like it’s causing a larger divide in the nutrition between the social classes. Shouldn’t everybody be able to afford food that is safe to eat?
I wish that every grocery store would be required to sell good-quality food. So many people don’t even realize how unhealthy the food they’re buying is. I really believe that healthy food is a basic human right.
What I am saying is that companies should not be allowed to practically poison food just so it is cheaper to produce. Why do we let them get away with it?
Audrey
I’m happy to see the trend of so many natural grocery stores opening but I feel like it’s causing a larger divide in the nutrition between the social classes. Shouldn’t everybody be able to afford food that is safe to eat?
I wish that every grocery store would be required to sell good-quality food. So many people don’t even realize how unhealthy the food they’re buying is. I really believe that healthy food is a basic human right.
What I am saying is that companies should not be allowed to practically poison food just so it is cheaper to produce. Why do we let them get away with it?
Audrey
By symplex, March 25, 2008 @ 12:15 pm
Most definitely, and here we are telling the world that organic food is the best.
By Christina H, March 25, 2008 @ 8:48 pm
I agree. Even at the regular grocery store (walmart) it’s usually double the price and if it’s something jarred it’s smaller.
I can’t wait until this summer when our farmer market’s will have more variety.
By Hannah S, March 28, 2008 @ 6:24 am
yeah, i wish it was cheaper. all the farmers can make more money by putting hormones and pestisides in their crops and cattle than with/o so it costs more to get the natural
By DropTopAle, March 29, 2008 @ 7:12 pm
Yea totally, But I’m assuming it costs the farmers that raise that stuff a whole lot to. I guess you can’t win for losing in this world.
By farmgirl, April 1, 2008 @ 10:34 pm
Mass-produced food using chemical fertilizers and preservatives etc. etc. is currently much less expensive to produce than organic food. Growing organic food can be more difficult, and foods without preservatives spoil faster, leading to more waste and higher prices..
Most people can afford food that is safe to eat - by growing their own or only buying the least expensive types of organic food or even by eating less. Most of us would be healthier if we ate less anyway.
It is a long and difficult process to become certified to put the “organic” lable on food.
If more people buy organic, it will become easier to sell it before it spoils and they’ll be able to mass produce. In the meantime, organic growers and producers struggle to make it financially. They can’t afford to lose revenue because some people can’t afford their products.
By JUDI O, April 3, 2008 @ 1:47 pm
You’re right. Healthy food should be more affordable and accessible to everyone. It’s sad that the cost of natural, organic food makes it prohibitive to some folks. But that money is well spent. Organic food requires more labor, yields a smaller crop and is more perishable which is largely why it costs more. The farmer’s need to be compensated for all that work.
By E???JAY, April 5, 2008 @ 4:09 am
I totally agree. Why should we have to pay more to be healthy? You would think that they would lower the prices so that everyone could afford to eat healthier.
By diogenese19348, April 5, 2008 @ 9:40 pm
Not really. Most food is produced as cheaply as possible. A 1,000 couped up chickens cost less to maintain than 1,000 free range ones. The inorganic methods of controlling pest populations require less labor, and have better yields. They just are not organic.
I am not arguing that organic food is not better, it is. I am just saying that since it costs more to produce, you better believe it is going to cost more to buy it.
By ?Just Ducky?, April 8, 2008 @ 11:23 am
Not really disturbing. It costs more to grow food organically. Since we’re talking mainly vegetables, the additional cost is negligible when compared to the improved nutritional value and the fact that vegetables are a bargain. As far as the social classes go, I say nonsense. I’ve done in home service calls for four different employers over a period of nearly 25 years. Generally, lower income people waste more money on non-essentials than upper income folks. I’ve seen dirt poor people living in squalor with a $4000.00 projection TV in their front room and kids running around in rags wearing their burger king crowns and playing with their happy meal toys. No, I’m not saying all poor people waste their money on unimportant things, but a significant chunk of them do. So, many lower “social classes” could buy the better food if they got their priorities straight. Nope, you’re not going to get me to buy into that nonsense. Besides, what’s not safe about regular store’s government inspected groceries? I grew up on them and I’m just fine.
By Millard, April 8, 2008 @ 5:05 pm
Organic foods cost more to produce, if they didn’t charge more they would go bankrupt and then no longer exist. I worry more about the stuff the government is allowing them to put into the food we do eat as you mention in your addendum. Such as High Fructose Corn Syrup. It’s cheaper than sugar, but unlike sugar, it doesn’t register with the brain when you should be full, so you eat more than you should. Check your food labels, HFCS is in almost everything you eat now. And check the ingredient label on a can of Tuna in Water and you’ll see they have added broth to it, so it’s really Tuna in Broth.
By Amy L, April 9, 2008 @ 7:08 pm
This situation is beginning to change. The laws of supply and demand have kept prices up, but now organic and “healthy” foods are beginning to go mainstream. Products are surfacing in greater amounts in supermarkets, which means that specialty stores will have to start keeping prices down to maintain their share of the market.
It’s been an elitist market for years. It’s about time the consumer got a break.