Accidental Hedonist

*sigh*

The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based advocacy group which promotes sustainable farming, claims Wal-Mart (Charts) is defrauding its customers by mislabeling non-organic products as organic.

The policy group said it conducted checks of Wal-Mart stores in five states and discovered labeling violations in virtually all of the “dozens of stores” it visited.

Wal-Mart, which uses green signs to identify organic selections at its stores, said any shelf labeling mistakes are isolated events and that it often mixes organic and conventional products on its shelves to make it easer for customers to find organic options.

“Although Wal-Mart has more than 2,000 locations that may offer up to 200 organic selections in addition to thousands of non-organic offerings, we believe it to be an isolated incident should a green organic identifying tag be inadvertently placed by or accidentally shift in front of the wrong item,” the company said in an e-mailed statement.

Although it’s not an isolated incident if a problem is found at several locations, it does sound less like a concerted effort of fraud and more like ignorance and laziness at the various stores and by Wal-Mart’s retail food management.

Organic Food requires a fair amount of diligence, not only in the production but in the retailing. If Wal-Mart doesn’t wish to provide the consumer with the necessary level of management and work needed, then they need to stop selling and promoting organic foods.

Technorati Tags: Organic Food, Wal-Mart

My gripes with Wal-Mart aside, if they do expand their use Fair Trade coffee, it will bring the Fair Trade movement to the forefront, which is very much a good thing.

But make no bones about it, this isn’t as much about paying a fair price to farmers as it is about, well, undercutting the prices of their current supplier of coffee, Millstone (owned by Proctor and Gamble):

Sam’s Club already was selling fair-trade coffee from Millstone Coffee but wanted to work directly with Bom Dia to create a new line that could undercut the prices of the big names, controlling a supply chain from the ground up.

Regardless of how they got there, they got there. So with this, along with their recent foray into organic foods, it certainly makes Wal-mart worth watching.

Now if they could address the other issues surrounding their practices, too numerous to mention here, I might actually shop there.

Aw…who am I kidding? I’m still not going to shop there.

If you’re interested in Supermarkets, and the hows and whys of their business, there is an absolute must read in this month’s Gourmet magazine that talks about Wal-Mart and their influence within the Food industry via their supermarket division.

It’d be easy for me to slam Wal-Mart and their practices, but I’ll save that for another day. However, I do want to touch upon a hypothesis I developed that the article helped fueled.

In reading the article, it became clear to me that the supermarkets we grew up with in the 70′s and 80′s are dying a slow death. The article agrees by quoting food-marketing consultant Gary G. Kyle, who stated “I think in that in the next five years you’re going to see the elimination of one or two of the major supermarket chains”, referring to Krogers, Safeway, Albertsons and Ahold.

The reason for this is clear in my opinion. Consumers consider two variables when it comes to purchasing foods: Price and Quality. The old-school supermarkets (best represented by Safeway and Krogers) provide little in ensuring that their consumers receives either. Every product on their shelves are determined, not by consumer preference nor market analysis, but by bribery in the form of “slotting fees”. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, “Slotting fees” are fees that companies pay in order to ensure that their product is not only displayed, but displayed in the best possible way, often at eye level. Take a look at the soup section or the cereal section, and you’ll see this practice in all of it’s glory. Those products you see at eye level? Chances are good that they were put their because companies paid to have them their.

The end result of this is that many products of cheaper value or of better quality are often regulated to the lower or higher shelves. The mega-corporations are often the only folks who have enough money to enure that their product is seen at the same level throughout the country.

There are two supermarket chains at the moment who do not practice slotting fees…Wal-Mart and Whole Foods. I do not think it’s coincidental that these two companies are increasing their market share while the old-school supermarkets are losing. What else do these two new-school supermarkets provide consumers?

Wal-Mart: Low prices
Whole Foods: Quality Products

Each of these companies recognized a segment of the marketplace that had not been realized to its fullest potential and they are both now reaping the benefits of these different approaches.

I’m of the belief that unless the old-school supermarkets adapt, they will continue to lose market share in the retail food industry. Other lesser supermarkets have taken notice of these new-school approaches and are adapting. Larry’s Market, based here in the Seattle area combines both and old-school approach with a Whole Foods approach in many aspects of their product choices. Larry’s the only supermarket in the area that actually sells imported British food products as well as selling higher quality pastas, meats, cheeses and fruits and vegetables. They too have increased their market share, at the expense of QFC and Albertsons.

Slotting fees aren’t the only issue with old-school supermarkets, nor are the new-school supermarkets perfect (Seriously…Wal-Mart has issues that I cannot even begin to list here). But if the old-schoolers wish to maintain their presence in the market place, they will need to adapt to some of the practices of either Wal-Mart or Whole Foods. What better place to start than removing the slotting fees and letting the marketplace decide which products deserve to be on the shelves. Isn’t that what a free-market system is all about?

Again, this information is to do with as you please. But if you wish to be politically informed, it’s best to know how your money is being spent by those who profit from your sales habits. The number in paranthesis is how much money was contributed to republican or republican causes.

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Brookshire Groceries (100%): Southern chain, mostly in Arkansas and Texas.

Jax markets (100%): California Chain.

Piggly Wiggly Carolina (100%): Chain in the Carolinas.

Schnuck Markets (100%): Midwest supermarket, mostly in Missouri and Illinois

Publix Super Markets (97%): A Supermarket chain in the South, specifically in Alabama, FLorida, Georgia, Souh Carolina, Tennessee

Ruddick Corp (95%): Owners of Harris Teeter Stores.

Winn-Dixie Stores (88%): Large Chain from the Pac NW through the South.

Safeway Inc (84%): Carrs, Dominick’s, Genuardi’s, Pavilions, Randall’s, Safeway, Tom Thumb, Von’s

Walmart (80%): Though they’re mostly retail sales, they do sell food items at most locations and some do have supermarkets as well.

Food Lion (78%): Supermarket Chain from the Mid Atlantic States

Albertson’s Inc (73%): Acme Markets, Albertsons, Jewel Osco, Shaw’s Supermarkets.

Kroger Co. (71%): Supermarkets – Kroger, Ralphs, Dillons, Smith’s, King Soopers, Fry’s, QFC, City Market, Hilander, Owen’s, Jay C, Cala Foods/Bell Markets, Kessel Food Markets, Pay Less, Baker’s, Gerbes
Multi-department stores – Fred Meyer, Fry’s Marketplace
Price-impact warehouse stores – Food 4 Less, Foods Co.

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Democratic Contributors above 70%:
Costco (98% to Dems): Same deal with Walmart. They’re considered more retail that food outlet, but most of their sales are in bulk foods.

All information was pulled from Opensecrets.org