Page 20 - Food&Drink Magazine May 2022

ORGANICS & NATURALS
RIGHT: From making stocks for her family, Loredana De Simone has built premium organic brand San Elk.
With more consumers turning to organic food and beverages since the start of the pandemic, demand for organic products is booming. In the lead-up to this year’s Naturally Good expo, Fleur Michell takes a look at companies and trends to watch.
A Naturally Good alley of organic companies
section that brings certified organic brands together for retailers and distributors to visit.”
The AOL report revealed that Australians are enthusiastic about the benefits of eating organic food, with 62 per cent of shoppers citing personal health as a motivator for their first organic purchase. For 45 per cent of respondents, environmental considerations were at the top of their list.
“Over the past year we’ve seen around nine million Australian households purchase organic food during this incredibly challenging time, which is encouraging,” says AOL CEO Niki Ford.
Kavanagh says it is a positive step that consumers are now looking for the AOL logo on packaging to seek out genuinely certified organic products.
“As we become more educated about the benefits of organic brands this will become as common as the Australian Made or Recycling logo.”
For Kavanagh, there are many organic brands to watch ranging from chickens to chocolate.
STOCK MARKET ON
THE RISE
Melbourne-based business
San Elk has been a labour of love for founders Loredana
and Arthur De Simone, which they started while working
full time and raising their three young boys.
ABOVE: Inglewood Organic national sales manager Greg Youngberry and managing director Katrina Hobbs.
RIGHT: Inglewood’s range includes value-added products for domestic and export markets.
20 | Food&Drink business | May 2022 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au
ACCORDING to the latest market report from leading body Australian Organic Limited (AOL), more than half (56 per cent) of all Australian shoppers have purchased certified organic products in the last year.
This year, the Naturally Good Expo 2022 will feature a dedicated section called Organic Alley for Australian
certified organic products and AOL members. The Expo is being held at
Sydney’s ICC on 6-7 June. “AOL has been a great
partner for Naturally Good and has constantly championed the organic exhibitors which have always been a key feature at the show,” Naturally Good product manager Sinead Kavanagh says.
“Given the expo is the Southern Hemisphere’s
biggest naturals B2B event, we recognised the need for a