Opportunities for Commercialization and Enterprise Development of Indigenous Fruits in Southern Africa - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 264

14.4 Commercial Marketing of Indigenous Fruits

14.4.1 Trends in the commercial natural product sector

Trends for commercial food products have changed drastically in the last
decade, with a growing emphasis on variety and natural/organic products.
Other interesting trends include a move back to traditional foods, i.e. made
according to traditional recipes or customs. Of particular interest to producers
in southern Africa are trends that see consumers becoming widely travelled
and therefore more aware and interested in exotic foods and ethically traded
products (fair trade, environmentally friendly/sustainable, etc.). Table 14.3
presents some of the more general European trends in the natural food
market.

14.4.2 Certification

Certification is becoming very important in the natural products sector.
Companies want to be able to trace the whole chain of natural products to be
completely certain that products that claim to be natural, organic or fairly
traded are indeed truly what they claim to be. Currently there are two types of
certification that are most relevant for commercial companies working in the
natural products sector.

Organic certification

Organic certification focuses on ensuring that crops are produced without any
inorganic pesticides or fertilizers. The difficulty with organic certification is that
the upfront costs are very high and few small companies or producers have the
kind of money needed for organic certification. What makes it more difficult is

Table 14.3. European trends in the natural food market.

Trends Important areas Concerns

Organic foods and cosmetics Herbal teas Genetically modified foods

Natural foods and cosmetics Ethnic foods Misleading health claims on

Fairly traded foods and cosmetics Children's foods products

Snack foods (particularly health bars) Complementary medicines Inaccurate ingredient and allergy

Functional foods Weight-loss products labelling on packaging

Gourmet foods Detoxification products Misleading advertising to children

Products free of genetically Allergy-reducing products Levels of salt in food products

modified ingredients Organic/natural cosmetics Over-harvesting of wild harvested

Under-utilized plant species Vegetarian/vegan products natural products

Low-carbohydrate food products Stress-relief products

Food allergies and intolerances
Environmentally responsible
cultivation and harvesting

Adapted from de Kock (2004).