ORGANIC AS A NEW MYTH: ECONOMIC AND FOOD-RELATED JUSTIFICATION FOR THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORGANIC AND TRADITIONAL PRODUCTS

Abstract

The article provides a comparative analysis of organic and traditional food products in order to assess the validity of the price difference between them. The relevance of the study is due to the growing share of organic products in the consumer market and the formation of a strong belief in their superior quality and health benefits. At the same time, the higher cost of such goods requires empirical confirmation of the correspondence between price and actual nutritional, technological, and organoleptic characteristics. The theoretical basis of the work is scientific approaches to determining the essence of organic production, factors of consumer behavior, and economic aspects of the development of the relevant market segment. The object of the study was mass consumption products, in particular milk, sour cream, soybean and sunflower oil. The comparison was made based on economic indicators, nutritional value, technological features of production and normative organoleptic characteristics. The analysis showed that in most cases, the basic nutrient indicators, including calorie content, protein, fat, and carbohydrate content, are practically identical for organic and traditional samples within the same category. Technological parameters, such as processing method, type of raw materials, storage and packaging conditions, also did not show any fundamental differences that could justify a significant difference in cost. Particular attention was paid to the economic aspect, in particular, the calculation of the cost per unit of mass or volume, which made it possible to identify cases of significant price differentiation. In some categories, the price difference significantly exceeded traditional analogues in the absence of corresponding changes in nutritional value. The results obtained indicate that the increased price of organic products is not always accompanied by proportional changes in the measured quality indicators. The scientific novelty of the work lies in combining economic and nutritional approaches to evaluating organic and traditional products within a single analytical model. The practical significance of the results lies in the possibility of using them to form a well-founded consumer position and further research into the economic feasibility of the organic market segment.