The influence of organics on the larger food industry is becoming ever-more clear. What does that mean for organics, and for the food industry as a whole?

Rachel Cernansky

September 10, 2015

2 Min Read
Expo East hot topic: How shifting consumer expectations are impacting the food industry

In 2006, when Samuel Fromartz published his book, Organic, Inc.: Natural Foods and How They Grew, the natural foods industry looked a lot different than it does now. So as part of a three-person panel at this year's Expo East, he'll talk about where the industry has gone in the near-decade since the book's release. From the size of organic farms to the flexibility of organic certification standards, there are a number of fundamental debates about the nature of the industry that have yet to be resolved. And, he points out, “the industry so much bigger now; the impacts of these debates are also bigger.”


Expo East appearance:
Natural in the Media Series: How shifting consumer expectations are impacting the food industry
Thursday, September 17
12:15 - 1:30 p.m.
Room 301
Baltimore Convention Center

As consumers shift their expectations, the industry needs to keep up. Smaller and more innovative companies are usually able to stay ahead of shifting expectations and an evolving marketplace, while big companies sometimes have a hard time just keeping up.

For some of the bigger issues facing the food industry at large—antibiotics in meat, for example—even the biggest companies, such as McDonald’s, are finally making some changes. Of course, antibiotics have always been banned from organic meat, but the influence of organics on the larger industry is becoming ever-more clear. What does that mean for organics, and for the food industry as a whole?

Fromartz will share the stage with Helena Bottemiller Evich, a food and agriculture reporter at Politico—who expertly covers what Fromartz describes as the policy sausage made in Washington, DC—and Mark Gunther, an editor for the Guardian's sustainable business coverage.

They'll each give a brief presentation, but their main goal is to engage in a conversation. So come with questions and get ready to talk with some of the leading journalists in the natural foods industry.

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