Netherlands: More organic and fairtrade products in supermarkets

The number of organic products in mainstream supermarkets in the Netherlands increased again, with an average of 155 products this year – a growth of 10% on 2012, Milieudefensie reports. Fairtrade products even rose by 20% to an average of 41 products. Over the past seven years, organics have increased every year, on average by 16%. The chain Hoogvliet scored the best, with an average of 398 organic products, followed by Plus with an average of 342 organic items. At one Plus store in Amersfoort, 1215 organic items were found. Most Fairtrade products could be found in C1000 in Wageningen (228).

Milieudefensie now stops their count after 16 years: "Organics are no longer a marginal offer in specialist shops; they have found their way to the shelves in supermarkets“, Jacomijn Pluimers, leading campaigner at the group explains. However, some local branches of Milieudefensie will continue their work. In 1998, they started their organic counts to stimulate the supply of organics in mainstream supermarkets. In that year, an average of six organic products was found in supermarket. More information (in Dutch) is available here: https://www.milieudefensie.nl/