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1/23/07 // Frozen, organic baby food helps parents chill outVia the Richmond Times-Dispatch
BY PENELOPE M. CARRINGTON
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
Jan 23, 2007
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MARK GORMUS/TIMES-DISPATCH
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Laura Dorazio used to be a new mom worried about what to feed her son.
The thought of 6-month-old Dillon eating solids and jarred food that had been sitting on a shelf for who knows how long didn’t appeal, she said.
Few sympathized.
“A lot of people said, ‘I don’t know why you’re so stressed about it. It’s just food. Go to the store and buy the jars. Everyone does,’” Dorazio, 25, recalled. “I just didn’t feel that’s what I wanted him to have.”
A handful of companies are helping parents such as Dorazio chill out with frozen and refrigerated organic baby food alternatives.
Five local moms who taste tested four of the flash-frozen versions said they were closer in taste and texture to fresh food than was jarred baby food. The new companies push the same point, adding that their preparation methods help retain more vitamins and nutrients than their jarred competition.
Process aside, most of the new businesses were birthed when the founders’ own children were ready for solid foods. Several owners said they, too, wanted their children to eat fresh, organic food right from the high chair, but they couldn’t find a jar-free option beyond homemade.
These parents shunned tradition and whipped up uncommon creations. Squapples (squash and apples) and piwi (pears and kiwi) became as routine for their children as pasta with Bolognese sauce.
Requests from friends and family mounted and soon had the parents pondering full-fledged businesses. Many left established careers in fields from advertising to marketing, while others put their positions as hospital or network studio executives behind them to become entrepreneurs.
“It was one of those ideas that really got into my bones. It was one of those gut feelings that won’t leave you alone,” said Heather Stouffer, (no relation to the frozen foods company) a mother of one who left a marketing and sales job to launch the Alexandria-based Mom Made Foods in May.
Several of the entrepreneurs we interviewed said no company existed three years ago that made baby food—let alone organic for the fridge or freezer. At least a dozen were found online, and most launched last year with products that often cost twice as much as jarred food.
The newcomers join a $3.6 billion a year baby food industry whose organic offshoot is on supergrow. According to consumer research company ACNielsen, organic baby food sales in U.S. food, drug and mass-merchandiser stores topped $108.9 million last year. That’s an 18 percent increase from 2005 and a 66 percent increase from 2002. (Wal-Mart, which no longer sells its sales information to researchers, is not included in the data, said an ACNielsen spokesperson.)
The organic industry is regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and all products must meet specific guidelines. The designation means pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, hormones and antibiotics are not used in the growing of produce or in the care and feeding of livestock.
Gerber and other major baby food brands have launched organic lines with spices and more adventurous combinations to tap the rapidly expanding market. Together, the major brands and their chilly competition are catering to parents who have a bushel of environmental and dietary concerns.
“I was a person who wanted to eat as much organic food as possible when organic was ‘out’ 10 years ago. I could not imagine giving my baby anything other than organics,” said Baby Cubes & More founder Iria Nishimura, 45, who spoke from San Jose, Calif.
A former hospital CEO, she now is the mother of two boys, ages 4½ years and 21 months. She said her children “eat anything” from salad to spicy dishes—a fact many parents envy.
“I used to think, ‘I’m so lucky,’ but more and more, I started thinking [my sons’] palates are just so used to the strong taste of food and flavors,” Nishimura said.
Experts agree that the food tastes of children develop early, and the more exposure they have to fresh, healthful foods, the better their chances for a lifetime of healthy eating. Some research also shows that the primary reason most adults buy organic is parenthood.
Comcast public-relations manager Monica Smith-Callahan of Richmond, a mother of 4-month-old Ayden Constance, isn’t convinced.
“It can say organic on the jar, but do any of us know what is really getting into our food? We could pay a little more for [products] that say they’re organic, but is there a big difference?”
Sean McKenna, father of two and a pediatrician at the VCU Children’s Medical Center, said there is no evidence either way that organic baby food is better than traditional versions. That’s why he encourages parents to offer their children healthful, balanced meals.
“There is no one magic bullet for raising healthy children,” McKenna said. “Reading the labels and seeing if it’s organic is a start, . . . but you can’t just give your kids organic food the first year and then switch to fast food. It’s a whole lifetime of doing the right thing for your kid.”
McKenna said that includes being a good nutrition role model and pacing yourself, because parenting is a lifetime activity, not a sprint. But Evie Failla of New York’s Evie’s Organic Edibles said it isn’t so simple to ignore the pressure to be the perfect parent and to change one’s eating habits.
“We have a lot of things on the outside of us at work. What we read in the newspapers. What we read online. What we see walking down the street . . . like children who are overweight,” said Failla, a former flight attendant who is pregnant with her second child. “We are inundated with information.”
Much is available on the Web sites of Failla and her competitors, including organic food primers, menu suggestions and access to experts who’ll answer questions.
Several owners of frozen and refrigerated organic-baby-food companies said combining products with information and resources reflects their desire to help parents who are where they were.
“I hope in my small way I’m giving parents more choices and better options and power over their choices for their young children,” said New York-based Plum Organics founder Gigi Lee Chang, who left a marketing career.
Knowing she has options ended Dorazio’s fretting and her son’s crying whenever he ate jarred baby food. Seeing him enjoy eating during a taste-test of the new brands also inspired her to cook for him.
“The freshness of the peas made me want to do it myself.”
Contact staff writer Penelope M. Carrington at pcarrington@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6027.