More than 90% of consumers say they’re familiar with the USDA Organic seal, according to the results of a survey conducted by the Organic Trade Association.
The association says 70% of consumers said the USDA Organic seal is trustworthy, coming in second only to the American Heart Association’s checkmark.
“The results of our survey were incredibly encouraging,” Tom Chapman, co-CEO of OTA, said in a news release. “As organic has become more accessible to consumers, the benefits of organic have become more widely known, boosting the trust in the organic seal. That’s why our advocacy efforts to honor that trust and to ensure that organic standards keep evolving and strengthening are so critical.”
To conduct the survey, OTA partnered with Euromonitor International to poll around 1,200 consumers in December across the country to evaluate what today’s consumers understand about organic, as well as their willingness to pay for USDA Organic products and the individual attributes supported by organic certification, the release said.
The survey compared how organic stacked up against claims such as natural, local, antibiotic-free, vegan, pesticide-free, allergen-free, fair trade, regenerative and more.
OTA says more than 70% of millennial and Generation Z shoppers reported that they see the USDA Organic seal as important when choosing food. Labels with organic, allergen-free, regenerative and vegan are also important.
“Younger consumers want to know about the products they’re buying,” Matthew Dillon, co-CEO of OTA, said in the release. “This isn’t just a short-term trend ... these information-seeking shoppers will continue to dig for the facts, and so will their kids. The more we can educate them about their food — and about organic — the better.”
OTA says its survey found that consumers who are unaware of the benefits of buying organic think it does not justify higher prices. But, consumers’ justification to buy organic jumps 16 percentage points when the consumer becomes more knowledgeable about organics.
Organic products often command a price premium over non-organic, the release noted. That’s due to a variety of factors, including generally higher production costs for organic including certification fees, higher processing costs, and limited federal support for organic agriculture and food production.
“Education is key to expanding organic,” Chapman said. “Even in this lack of understanding, the survey shows organic incorporates most of what consumers care about. Organic has a tremendous opportunity here to use the trust and the recognition of the USDA Organic seal to help consumers understand even more about its attributes and to expand the organic sector.”
