Inside the Big Business of Organic Food
With consumers waking up to what is actually going into our food, the organic industry is one of the hottest growth categories in the food industry.
The market has nearly quadrupled over the last decade, and companies and capital groups are paying attention. Annie’s is a great example. It’s a California based company that makes (among other things) a bowl of mac and cheese without all of the junk (things like artificial growth hormones, artificial colors and genetically engineered ingredients). When it launched its initial public offering in March of 2012, it had the biggest opening day gain of any IPO in almost a year. What does that mean? It means that of all the technologies on the market, Wall Street got the most excited about a bowl of mac and cheese that wasn’t hopped up on junk.
Annie’s isn’t the only stock soaring. A quick look at the share prices of Chipotle, Boulder Brands and others tell the same story: Clean food technology is taking off.
In 2012, consumers purchased $28 billion in organic products. The food awakening is on, largely driven by the escalating rates of diseases and conditions that we are seeing in our families. With 1 in 13 children now food allergic and the CDC reporting that cancer is now the leading cause of death by disease in American children, parents are reading labels like never before and realizing that we have no idea what some of these ingredients are and would rather opt out.
As we find ourselves on this changing landscape of food and health, it’s worth paying attention to what is happening to the companies making our food. A quick look at the infographic below suggests that a lot is happening.
