The movement to become closer to one’s food source and consumers craving more healthful food and beverage options have buoyed the growth of the $53.5 billion natural and organic business, according to Rockville, Md.-based Packaged Fact’s July 2014 report titled “Natural and Organic Foods and Beverages in the U.S., 4th Edition.”
Organic food and beverages represent the larger segment — 63 percent share of total retail dollar sales — of the natural/organic foods and beverages market, notes Packaged Facts. Yet, because no federally regulated definition of natural exists, the natural foods and beverages segment lost 3.6 share points in the past five years, dropping from a 40 percent share in 2006 to 36.4 percent in 2014, it adds.