Thirthy eight per cent of UAE residents are completely aware of the concept of ‘organic food’, according to a study by a leading market research company.

The findings from YouGov Siraj’s lifestyle poll, also showed that 20 per cent indicated they are not at all aware of organic food, while the remaining 42 per cent said they are somewhat aware of it.

When asked to describe their need use for organic food, 1 per cent indicated only using organic food, while 33 per cent claimed they do not use organic food at all. 45 per cent of the respondents use both organic and conventional food, and 21 per cent have previously used it but do not do so currently.

61 per cent of the respondents who do not use organic food explained that they think it’s very expensive, 45 per cent said it’s not widely available, and 22 per cent do not think that it is better than conventional food. The remaining 8 per cent had other various reasons for not using organic food.

“These figures are not surprising at first glance, but once we dig in more into the respondents’ explanations, we clearly see that although most of them are aware of the term ‘organic food’ and its benefits. They do not prefer it on conventional food,” stated Amir Bozorgzadeh, business development associate at YouGov Siraj.

“The main obstacle is the high price and unavailability of the products widely. Organic food stores have been available in the UAE for a while now, but we can clearly tell that it is not going to replace conventional food any time soon, although its getting more popular with more stores being opened across the country.”-TradeArabia News Service