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Organic continues to gain popularity

The popularity of organic products continues to grow in the United States. The Organic Trade Association says total sale of organic products hit $31.5 billion in 2011. $29.22 billion of that was organic food and beverages while non-food organic sales were $2.2 billion.

OTA Executive Director and CEO Christine Bushway says consumers are becoming increasingly aware of health and environmental concerns and where their food comes from. She says price is still an issue but the number of items available and the number of places offering those items is increasing. The easing of the recession also helped.

The organic food sector grew by $2.5 billion (9.4%) during 2011, with the fruit and vegetable category contributing close to 50 percent of those new dollars. The fastest-growing sector was the meat, fish & poultry category, posting 13 percent growth over 2010 sales, but still remaining the smallest of the eight organic food categories.

Organic food sales now represent 4.2 percent of all U.S. food sales, up from 4 percent in 2010.

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