While the market for organic products is leveling off rather than showing the dramatic growth it endured in the first decade of the 21st century, the trend toward sustainability has only gathered pace during the economic downturn. For example, U.S. retailer Trader Joe’s has promised to only stock sustainable seafood by December 31, 2012. Specifically marketing products as “sustainably sourced” is from a tiny base, with Innova Market Insights tracking just 41 products in the last 12 months containing these exact words globally (April 2009-March 2010), up from just 14 in the previous 12 months. Activity in sustainably sourced ingredients is particularly evident in soybeans, palm oil, coffee and cocoa.
Additionally, there is increased concern for animal welfare, spurred on, in part, by films like Robert Kenner’s Food, Inc., which “lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA.”