Is Alcampo Supermarket turning organic?

A few days ago, the Alcampo supermarket in the Cañada shopping mall has increased the amount of products, labelled organic in their shop, and I was drawn to their fruit and vegetable section. It seems that Alcampo is following the strategies of other large supermarkets responding to the increasing demand for organic produce by the Marbella residents.

It is praiseworthy that supermarkets are starting to support a sustainable agriculture, but they still use traditional methods of purchasing food. The industrial food production, which only means: buying wherever it is cheapest, differs substantially from the innovative channels of food production and distribution offered by organic farm associations.

Organic produce cannot be reduced to a seal informing the consumer that a food item does not contain chemicals. Buying organic food also means that the consumer support pesticide free soil in the area and helps local farms maintain and create jobs.

The oranges which we found today at the Alcampo, imported from South Africa cannot be regarded as ecological, although some certifying body tells us they are free of chemicals, since the impact of transport is not taken into account. How much C02 is needed to carry a kilo of oranges from South Africa to Spain, perhaps with a stop over in the UK. Many of the large organic citrus orchards of Spain are less than 13 miles away from Marbella, in the Guadalhorce Valley and produce delightful juicy organic oranges, lemons and mandarins.

The organic farms of Coin, Pizarra and Alaurin offer thousands of freshly harvested carrots, full of vitamins and minerals, and there is no need to import carrot from Italy, which are for sale at Alcampo.

Australia, today the country with the largest organic consumption per inhabitant in the world, does not allow products to be classified as organic if they have travelled for more than 30 miles.

What saddened me even more that Alcampo uses the terms of free range and organic chicken as if it was the same. When we visited today, not a single organic chicken could be found, only chicken fed, the same as their caged relatives, with growth hormones and corn often of genetically modified corn grown in the US.

I believe labelling the shelf is misleading, and the consumer who wants to buy healthy food will spend his money on items which may not be healthy at all.

It is necessary that supermarkets start purchasing their food as close to their location as possible, and that does not apply to organic food alone, but to all agricultural products. This would help to reduce unnecessary transportation of food and will give access to fresher food, richer in vitamins and minerals as it can be harvested ripe and sold at once.

What nutritional value may one expect of an orange which has travelled thousands of miles or a carrot which has been in storage for weeks or even months?