Airplane food has been the butt of jokes for decades. By and large, it’s terrible, worthless, artificially-tainted junk. It’s worse than most fast foods, if that’s even possible. So it’s about time things are changing, even if the changes are small and uncertain.

The Rodale Institute, in an article by Krista Hozyash, has reported that United Airlines has responded to customer demand and is offering organic goodies on its flights.

The airline conducted research in 2008 with surveys and focus group discussions. Passengers reflected upon on-board experiences and suggested improvements on a variety of categories, including a desire for healthier things to eat. United responded by releasing the Choice Menu snackbox collection with an organic option in May of 2009. Organic Choice Menu items should now be available on nearly all of United’s flights within North America that fly for at least three hours.

The initial version of the organic option included:

Late July Organic Cheddar Cheese Crackers
Terra Nostra Organic Dark Chocolate Square
Kettle Valley Organic Strawberry Fruit Snack
Nature’s Path Organic Pumpkin Flaxplus Granola
Bare Fruit Organic Cinnamon Apple Chips

Each of these products is labeled with one of the allowed USDA certified designations: “100 percent organic,” or just “organic” if less than 100 percent but at least 95 percent of organic ingredients are used during production.

Artificial additives, flavors and preservatives are prohibited in favor of natural substitutions such as organic cinnamon and fruit concentrates. The guidelines, administered by the USDA National Organic Program, are taken very seriously by organic food enterprises. Individuals at these companies told me that they do extensive research to ensure that ingredient suppliers comply with stringent organic processing and sourcing standards.

Many in the middle

The supply chain for these organic ingredients is fairly complex, involving multiple parties in a process that looks something like this:

Farm → Packing House → Manufacturing Plant → Organic Company → Supplier → Food Preparation & Delivery Service → United Airlines

Individual farms grow the strawberries, pumpkins, flax, apples, cocoa and milk. Fruits are transported to packing houses for grading, cleaning and packaging for shipping. The fruits, cheeses, chocolate, seeds and grains are sent to manufacturing plants where they are processed, combined into the products for sale and packaged. These are transported to organic companies such as Late July then delivered to Supplair, a brand of gategroup company. Assembled snackboxes are sent to United Airlines’ onboard service provider Gate Gourmet for distribution on flights.

Ready to eat at 30,000 feet doesn’t allow air travelers to “buy fresh, buy local,” so it takes more steps to connect farmers to fliers. This path for non-organic food holds limited transparency for consumers, but illustrates the industrial food system that organic food promoters have to work within until at-the-gate organic food kiosks or more profitable opportunities for airlines develop.

More consumers are exposed to organics as supermarkets and other food retailers sell greater varieties of conventional and organic products. Research conducted by the USDA Economic Research Service indicates consumer demand for organic foods has risen dramatically over the past decade. Sales of organics have increased from $3.6 billion in 1997 to $21.1 billion in 2008. Economic shifts in 2008 and 2009 have slowed organic growth considerably, but reassuringly strong fundamental demand continues.

Organic snacks rise

As a sub-segment of organic foods, organic snacks are quite popular. Organic chips, pretzels, cookies and crackers incorporate basic inputs such as organic vegetables, oils, salt and flavors. According to the Organic Trade Association, demand for organic snacks totaled $807 million in 2006, a 21 percent rise in growth from 2005 when sales totaled $667 million.

The decision of United Airlines to serve an organic snackbox reveals the significance of supply and demand. Organic options are increasing in restaurants, school cafeterias and business catering services, all as a result of continuing, persistent solid consumer demand for something better that wasn’t there before.

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