Sales of organic food in Dutch supermarkets were 20 percent higher in the first nine months of 2010 than in the same period last year.

The figure represents the biggest growth in the market for a decade. Organic food sales in the Netherlands were worth nearly 230 million euros in the period from January to September 2010.

The increase was mainly seen in dairy produce but consumers also turned increasingly to organically produced coffee, tea, cocoa and meat. The Organic Farming Market Development group (Marktontwikkeling Biologische Landbouw) says organic products are more popular because they are being packaged better. The range of organically produced food has also increased.

(c) Radio Netherlands Worldwide