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Ready to rule: Organic beverages expect boost from new labeling regulations. (Beverage R&D).

Article Excerpt
With annual growth rates topping 20 percent and rising, organic beverage makers say they have nowhere to go but up after the new national organic regulations go into effect this fall.

The federally implemented National Organic Program (NOP), which was finalized in December 2000, requires that all products labeled as "organic" meet the new standards by Oct. 21, 2002 -- or else. With the new USDA rule on organics comes a host of ingredient specifications, say organic food and beverage companies, but also the opportunity to validate and expand the roughly $8-billion organic category.

"We're very excited about the USDA [organic] logo corning out," says Seth Goldman, president and Tea-EO of Honest Tea, Bethesda, Md., which in 1999 launched the first organic bottled tea. "It's a great opportunity to raise the level of awareness among consumers and establish a common definition of 'organic."'

"From my standpoint, I'm hoping that USDA does some advertising, that people will finally understand the difference between organic and conventional, and trust what [organic] is," says Kim Burton, regulatory compliance manager for Smucker Quality Beverages, Chico, Calif., who also chairs the materials committee for the National Organic Standards Board. A 2001 survey by Roper Starch Worldwide for Arlington, Va.-based Walnut Acres underscores her point: Seventy-five percent of consumers were unable to differentiate between organic foods and those labeled "all-natural."

Having a standardized set of national regulations in place could also be the catalyst for pushing some U.S. organic products out into the rest of the world, says Clark Driftmier, senior vice president of marketing for Horizon Organic, Boulder, Cob., the leading organic milk brand. "It's important for import and export...