Packaged salads reign supreme in the organic realm, with more than $1.1 billion in sales in 2018.
No other commodity brought in even $400 million in organic sales. Packaged salads accounted for more dollars than the next three largest categories combined – apples, carrots and potatoes.
Perhaps most impressively, organic packaged salads continue to grow, with sales expanding 7% in 2018. That growth translated into an addition $75 million-plus for the category.
Lettuce ranks No. 7 on the list of organic categories with nearly $260 million in sales. Those numbers are up 12% from the previous year, with that growth contributing nearly $28 million to the total.
Steve Lutz, the founder of analytics firm Perishables Group, which was purchased a few years ago by Nielsen, discussed these numbers recently at the Global Organic Produce Expo. Lutz is now a vice president at the Produce Marketing Association.
While packaged salads reign supreme in organic, though, many other commodities are experiencing rapid growth.
