Stoneleigh, England, July 8 - The long-term trend for ethical issues to drive more food purchases remains intact despite the recession although organic has lost out as it lacks a clear message, a major food retailer said on Wednesday.
Justin King, chief executive of British food retailer J Sainsbury Plc, said the influence of issues such as climate change or animal welfare would continue to grow.
"These are issues that we are more concerned about than our parents' generation and our children are massively more concerned about than our generation," he told Reuters in an interview while attending English agriculture's Royal Show.
King said the recession had accelerated a trend towards "savvier shopping".
"They (customers) have been rational, looking after pennies at the same time staying incredibly true to the things that are important to them," he said.
Sainsbury has seen a sharp growth in demand for its cheaper basics range during the last year as consumers look more closely at their purchasing decisions, King said.
"They are going back to cooking a bit more and recognising that it doesn't matter if tomatoes are blemished if they are going to be reduced into sauce," he said.
This has proved bad news for the organic sector but good news for other ethical labels including Fairtrade, which seeks to offer a better deal for farmers in developing countries.
"Organic grew massively over many years but many consumers have lost touch with the reason why," King said, noting some saw organic as a partial but not definitive solution to many issues.
"It all got a bit woolly," he added.
"There are many alternatives to address people's concerns for ethical sourcing, environmental stewardship, animal husbandry. They continue to go gangbusters," King said, adding many of other options were cheaper.
He said the long-term trend for consumers to spend a lower proportion of their income on food had plateaued during the last four or five years as they paid more attention to ethical issues which "generally means spending a bit more on food".
Food now accounts for about 10 percent of spending in Britain, down from 20 percent around 40 years ago.
He said many commentators had expected to see the food spending trend to turn higher.
"It may well be that this particular period of downturn we are in has stalled that turn," he said, adding he believed it would still take place.
Sainsbury on Wednesday announced it was extending a carbon reduction scheme for farmers who supply the retailer with beef, lamb, pork, poultry and eggs.
The move follows work with the retailers' dairy farmers over the last 12 months which produced savings of 5,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
"Individual consumers feel almost powerless (to alter climate change)...This is all about demonstrating in a real way we are leading the charge on the issue," King said.
"They (customers) are not saying show me what the carbon footprint is on that strawberry. What they are saying is show me that your business cares more about these issues than other businesses where I can buy food."