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?

Is organic food more expensive?

Organic food has the reputation of being more expensive than industrially produced food. But is this really true? No, not if you happen to live in the andalusian cities of Estepona or Marbella, where you can find organic produce cheaper than quality fruit and vegetables from industrial farming. Andalucia Ecologica and Iris’ health food shop make top organic fruit and vegetables available to people living on the Costa del Sol and since there are no middlemen, prices are fair both for the farmer and the consumer.

You can stop by at Iris’ Health Food Store on Calle Huerta Nueva in Estepona, just opposite the Carrefour Express on the corner of Avda Juan Carlos I or place your order through Andalucia Ecologica’s online shop, and get your organic home delivery anywhere in Marbella, Estepona and Sotogrande.

Estepona’s first organic shop

A few days ago, a Flemish couple have opened the first organic shop in Estepona.

Iris and Hadelin not only offer dry organic food but also fresh and healthy organic fruit and vegetables form sustainable farming in the Malaga province. The shop is called HERBORISTERIA IRIS and is located on Calle Huerta Nueva n°6 just in front of the Carrefour Express on Avda. Juan Carlos I and receive organic fruit and vegetables from Andalucia Ecologica

Residents in Esptepona now have two options to buy healthy and tasty organic food, either at Iris’ Health Food Shop or through the online shop of Andalucia Ecologica.

Andalucia Ecologica offer a home delivery service for organic food in Marbella, Estepona and Sotogrande.

Going organic between Marbella and Sotogrande

Andalucia Ecologica’s home delivery service for organic fruit and vegetables now offers weekly deliveries to Sotogrande, too. Thanks to a number of customers there, we can now supply the widest range of organic produce on the Costa del Sol. Contact us through our web shop www.andalucia-ecologica.com or buy phone, 645 663 192, . to receive not only organic fruit and vegetables, harvested just in time to assure you maximum freshness and quality, but also organic meat from the only organic butcher in Andalucia. Our customers can now choose from well over 600 different organic items and receive their organic produce in Marbella, San Pedro, Mijas, Estepona and Sotogrande.

Where to buy organic food on the Costa del Sol

2010 has been a good year for the health conscious consumer on the Costa del Sol. When, only twelve months ago, it was still complicated to source organic fruit and vegetables in Marbella on the coast in general, and that at top dollars, new initiatives came to life in recent months. Customers have started to test the different home delivery services now available in Fuengirola, Marbella, Estepona and Sotogrande, but sadly, not many live up to the expectations. Those of you who like to buy organic produce in markets, you can now do so in Marbella, Coin, Alaurin el Grande y Cartama. These markets move from town to town every week. The most comprehensive organic web based delivery service is www.andalucia-ecologica.com, offering fresh and wholesome fruit and vegetables from organic local farms, all stringently controlled by the state authorities. Andalucia Ecologica also offer superb organic meat from environmentally friendly husbandry, free of growth hormones and antibiotics associated with industrially produced meat. Andalucia Ecologica offer cost and time efficient deliveries to customer’s homes between Malaga and Gibraltar.

Fighting the crisis in Spain with bio-ammunition

Andalucia Ecologia, which started trading eighteen months ago, has become one of the key players in organic produce distribution on the Costa del Sol. Based in Marbella, this online shop started as a neighbourhood initiative, establishing a bond between certified organic farms located predominantly in the province on Malaga and health conscious residents living in Malaga, Fuengirola, Marbella, Estepona and Sotogrande. It seemed to us incomprehensible that Andalucia is the largest producer of organic farm produce in Europe and that most of those wholesome and tasty fruit and vegetables are being exported, and that the bits that are available in local supermarkets are far too expensive.
We started selling just fruit and vegetables, harvested on demand by trustworthy farmers who are committed to environmentally friendly agriculture, free of pesticides. Over the months, our virtual supermarket grew to incorporate fresh organic meat, rice, pasta and many other items you would generally want to buy in your local shop.

Week by week, our customer base increases, and instead of using advertising, we rely on customer referrals and recommendations. Starting in 2011, we feel ready to share our business model with interested individuals and groups in other towns and cities. We are prepared to share our organic web shop, www.andalucia-ecologica.com with people who want to work inside the green industries. We want to establish working relationships with foreign residents living in Spain, those who find it hard to find a job, particularly the first one, the unemployed, but definitely those who are committed to work for a better world. For more information please call 952 785 631 or 645 663 192.

One year delivering organic food

Andalucia Ecologica has just celebrated it’s first year of bonding farmers with our community on the coast. We started with just a handful of neighbours and friends, buying locally produced organic food. Over the past year, the customer base has increased and we now reach as far as Fuengirola in the East to Sotogrande and Tarifa in the West. So if you live anywhere along that part of the coast, you can receive your organic deliveries at your doorstep. For more info, call 645 663 192 or visit http://www.andalucia-ecologica.com/