Popular Grocery Store Moves to All Organic

Shopping organic is not always easy. Depending on where you live it can be nearly impossible to find an organic beet or wholesome bunch of kale.

That might just be changing thanks to one popular grocery chain.

Chances are you know the name Kroger and are one of the many Americans who already shop at the store. Even if you don’t, you may shop at Kroger and not even know it.

The company currently operates a total of 2419 stores in the United States, some of which run under names like Ralphs, Fry’s, King Soopers and Food 4 Less.

Following the 2012 release of their “Simple Truth” brand of organic foods – which also claims to be mostly GMO free – the Kroger chain has recently decided to go all in on the organic food market.

With big time competitors like Whole Foods, some may wonder what is motivating an already successful corporation to change its entire sales agenda. According to Kroger’s president, it’s what the buyers want.

“We’re really just answering the customer’s call for more and better”, said company president Michael Ellis.

According to Business Insider, this move is not just good for the consumer, but it will be good for the company. The Kroger supermarket chain is projected to take over and surpass Whole Foods as the leading organic and natural food seller.

What you should know about the Simple Truth brand.

Just last year, the not so true Kroger organic brand fought a class action suit against their organic chicken labelling. According to the lawsuit, the company mislead consumers to believe the animals were free range when the conditions were not so.

What is more, independent investigations have found that many of the products could indeed contain genetically modified ingredients.

Apart from these issues, the company is making moves in the right direction and encouraging other big chain suppliers to do the same.

For what it’s worth (and not much considering all the evil they’ve done) Wal-Mart has made a move to satisfy the growing health concerns of their shoppers by integrating organic options in their supermarkets.

The question now becomes where does all this organic come from? Can the farmers support an 80 billion dollar (and growing) industry?

Although organic farming intends to minimize environmental and human health impact, the fact of the matter is it can only put out so much of the product. On average, conventional organic farming delivers 5% less per crop than boosted methods.

The solution? Setting new standards for organic farming.

It is simply not enough to exclude the use of pesticides and chemicals, rather there must be effective changes to the quality of soil being used to grow these organic crops.

Although the exact implementation will vary depending on the climate, adopting healthy soil practices will be the most effective approach to sustaining the growing demand for healthier foods.

All in all we are seeing change in the right direction, we must fight to keep the momentum going!

Sources:

http://althealthworks.com/2127/buyer-beware-simple-truth-similar-products-often-include-hidden-gmos/
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/organic-farming-yields-and-feeding-the-world-under-climate-change/