Consumers Associate Natural, Organic With Health But Not Taste

[ladycat]

Seven out of 10 survey respondents (71 percent) associate items menued as natural, organic and sustainable with the idea of healthfulness, and nearly as many (62 percent) connect them with using the freshest ingredients. However, only 41 percent associate organic, natural and sustainable ingredients with a perception of quality. Even fewer associate “good taste” with these items, and only 18 percent see them as good values.

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/s...06&newsLang=en

[anniew]

If "health" isn't a "perception of quality" I don't know what is...

[Mutti]

If you haven't got your health you haven't got anything. The best part of my nursing home job is being reminded daily why I eat and live like I do. 40 year olds that will spend there rest of their LIVES there with all the chronic diseases you used to see in 70 year olds. Diabetes, dialysis pts with no legs, hypertension,stroke,cancers, respiratory problems. Actually, the 80-100 year olds (yes, one man 102!) take little in the way of pills,mostly vitamins!!! I can take all the joshing other staff dishes out when I bring my own meals instead of eating fast food everynite like they do. Diabetes is common in my family and docs can never believe at almost 60 I don't have it,too. Brother was dx'ed and asked me what to do...I said loose 30# and he did....no more pills and he has gone on to loose more and change some other bad health habits. Not gonna find me in a wheelchair if I can help it!

[greenmulberry]

I think organic dairy, especially butter and sour cream, is way better tasting than the conventional stuff. Yum yum.

[ladycat]

Originally Posted by anniew

If "health" isn't a "perception of quality" I don't know what is...

Me neither.

I'm wondering if some of these people surveyed are associating "organic" with health foods (soy milk, power bars, etc).

To me organic is buying organic counterparts of the stuff I already eat (veggies, dry beans, rice, etc). I cook traditional meals using organic ingredients- the same southern food and tex-mex I grew up on.

But wait! People no longer know how to cook, and there aren't enough organic convenience foods like frozen crock-pot meals.

I think the survey was well-intentioned but people's perceptions and experiences are skewed.

[hillsidedigger]

Someone is blowing smoke.

Whats tasteless or poor tasting is food grown in unnaturally minerally enhanced non-whole soil where maybe a lot of pith and cellulose (quantity) results but with little moisture and few enzymes (quality, good taste).

I can see and taste a big difference in the tomatoes grown in our garden. The other gardener here uses Miracle Grow, I use Black Kow.

'Yes, yours are bigger but they are hard and do not taste as good as these little ones'.

Some juice squeezed from the Miracle Grow tomatoes actually had a neon-like sheen or glow on the top of the juice.

I am still trying to teach proper gardening methods to some around me but my poor SIL whose yard is next to my 'organic' garden thought she was doing me a favor last summer when she used Roundup all around the edge of her yard!!! Aaaarrrggghhh!

[Wildwood Flower]

Originally Posted by Mutti

If you haven't got your health you haven't got anything. The best part of my nursing home job is being reminded daily why I eat and live like I do. 40 year olds that will spend there rest of their LIVES there with all the chronic diseases you used to see in 70 year olds. Diabetes, dialysis pts with no legs, hypertension,stroke,cancers, respiratory problems. Actually, the 80-100 year olds (yes, one man 102!) take little in the way of pills,mostly vitamins!!! I can take all the joshing other staff dishes out when I bring my own meals instead of eating fast food everynite like they do. Diabetes is common in my family and docs can never believe at almost 60 I don't have it,too. Brother was dx'ed and asked me what to do...I said loose 30# and he did....no more pills and he has gone on to loose more and change some other bad health habits. Not gonna find me in a wheelchair if I can help it!

It's nice to hear about this first-hand. I am 60 now too, and am surprised that people way younger than me have what we used to consider "old-people's diseases" such as you mentioned.

What gets me is that because they are becoming more COMMON, people tend to think it's NORMAL. It's not normal.

I think people's perception of "organic" has to change. I know for my DD, once it became trendy to eat organic, they started switching over--having a healthy baby boy helped too.

I also don't believe people understand that there are alternatives to the super-market chains for buying organic foods. And yea, some need to learn to cook.

Organic "convenience" foods ARE very expensive.