Sprouts farmers market advertises and seems to be dedicated to being a pro-organic store. If you are someone interested in maintaining a fully organic diet I’m sure you’ve heard of it at least once. But one might wonder, is Sprouts farmers market really organic?
Some of the products of Sprouts farmers market are actually organic. But some of them can also contain artificial preservatives, flavors, and even colors. Even so, if you are looking for some organic produce then Sprouts farmers market could be just the place you are looking for to shop.
In this article, I will discuss more deeply on the matter. I will also provide you with some tips on which products to avoid and which to look for if you are all in for organic foods. So, to know more, have a read through the whole article.
Is Sprouts Farmers Market An Organic Brand?
As I already mentioned, sprouts do not sell only organic foods in their store. Therefore, it’s not an organic brand. They actually sell a lot of natural products but not all of them. They sell a lot of products that are not naturally grown and even some that are totally artificially made.
This supermarket claims that they sell natural and organic foods, specially collected from local farmers. It’s not fully wrong, and they try to provide organic products as much as they can. Their target is to provide healthy foods at a low cost in the United States of America.
And they keep their promise eventually. You can find a lot of products that are good and costs less than other food markets in the state. However, if you ask for pure natural and organic food, that’s not what they provide. You may notice them advertising that over 90% of their foods are organic. But in real life, that’s not the case.
When I visited their shop in California, I noticed that organic items are taking entry in their production departments. But in the front market, where real buyers get their products from, they don’t have even half of the products that enter their shop.
Is Sprouts All Organic or All-Natural?
Never and they do not claim to be all-organic. You totally have a misconception if you still think that their products are all organic or they claim to be all organic. Yes, they want you to believe that most of their products are organic, but they are not.
I have already mentioned that they claim 90% of the products they sell to be organic. That explains why they have items prepared using artificial ingredients, colors, and flavors.
If you are visiting their shop for the first time, you may not believe at all that they have non-organic products. They decorate their products in that way, making their front attractive to consumers.
Generally, people do not read labels on the product. No, I am not talking about the name of the products, I am talking about the ingredients. The ingredients of a product are written in short letters on the product label. Many Americans just skip the part and buy the product just by looking at the packaging.
I am not blaming people for not reading the labels. It’s very time-consuming to read those and understand all of them. Moreover, they do not directly name the chemicals used on their products. Instead, they use codenames which are not easy to understand. I don’t remember myself opening my smartphone to Google the ingredients written on a product label.
Long story short, although the sprouts farmers market looks like an all-organic store, it’s not. There are chemicals hidden in product labels you would never know unless you are an expert. So if you are looking for a store with only natural and organic foods, Sprouts is not going to take place in your list.
Does Sprouts Farmers Market Only Sell Organic Products?
More than half of the products sold by the Sprouts are non-organic. As they have a lot of stores in the US, the number of organic products sold may differ, but it’s around 60% mostly.
In order to give the impression that they sell only organic products, they keep the organic products in the front. The more you go inside, the more you are going to find non-organic foods. However, not all non-organic foods have a lot of artificial chemicals. If you want to avoid the products that use the highest number of pesticides, try to avoid the following products:
- Tomatoes
- Spinach
- Pears
- Apples
- Strawberries
- Peaches
- Cherries
- Nectarines
- Potatoes
- Celery
- Sweet bell peppers
Where Does Sprouts Farmers Market Get Their Organic Products?
They buy a lot of vegetables from farmers directly. However, their meat products are from Uruguay and other sources of US. Chickens sold by them are described as “farm-fresh”, but they don’t specify from which farms they get their chicken.
If you ask me what my recommendations for getting groceries are, I would include sprouts in the list. But it will not be at the top of the list because I am still not assured about their product source. Their products are not bad, but not the first choice of mine.
Though their vegetable section is impressive, their meat section doesn’t look good. They provide USDA Choice Natural Beef that is grown by feeding corn and grain. I personally suggest getting the meat from other super-shops in the US.
Is Sprouts A Good Grocery Store For Buying Organic Products?
In short, yes. If you ask for the long answer, there is not a long answer as it totally depends on your choice.
I have visited the sprouts farmers market a couple times, and I am not a fan of their products. They have a good collection of fresh fruits and vegetables, but they are not my only choice. I would like to mention the Whole Foods alongside the Sprouts. The Whole Foods have similar products like the Sprouts do, though it costs more.
So yeah, the sprouts farmers market is a good choice but there are a lot of stores in the US. You may or may not like the Sprouts, but you should definitely give it a shot.
What Kind Of Store Is The Sprouts Farmers Market?
Sprouts Farmers Market is a chain of supermarkets. The headquarters of Sprouts is in Phoenix, Arizona, US. Besides the organic and natural foods they tend to provide, they also sell vitamins, supplements, household items, bakery goods, packaged groceries, etc.
As you can see, all of the products they sell are not organic and can’t be organic. Their shop looks like old 90’s whole foods sellers. At the time I am writing this, they have over 340 shops in the United States of America and employ no less than 35000 workers.
While they have become one of the World's Most Admired Companies in 2018 and 2019, they are not advertising their products right. A lot of customers go to their shop thinking that they are providing the best food in the market. Though they advertise that they are providing low-cost products in the market, not all of their products are of low cost. I do shop frequently from grocery stores and I can definitely tell that they charge more than a lot of shops.
That brings a lot of questions to me. Why should I pay higher than regular shops when I am not getting the expected product? I am not saying that they are not honest, but they should advertise their product rightly.
Why Is the Sprouts Farmers Market So Expensive?
Like I said before, though they talk about low-priced products, their products are not so cheap. In fact, their products cost more than other grocery shops. The main selling point of their products is that their products are organic. A lot of people agree to pay more when they are assured of better quality.
And Sprouts provides better quality than most of the grocery stores in the United States. That makes pure sense when they charge more for natural products. But when you are not getting the quality you pay for, it’s definitely disappointing.
Obviously, you can buy from a lot of stores if you are living in the US. Sprouts is not the only store that promises to sell organic products in the market. Paying a few bucks more is only worth it when the product quality is assured.
Therefore I suggest you visit Sprouts only when you are buying organic products. You must make sure that you are buying natural and chemical-free products only. No need to buy everything from them if the products are non-organic.
What Are the Best Items to Buy from The Sprouts Farmers Market?
If you want to buy the best products from Sprouts, there are a bunch of items you can try. As I have mentioned before, they have a lot of quality products in their store.
They have a really good collection of milk products. This includes cheese, yogurt, and processed milk. I can’t but mention the vitamin and supplement section, also the canned and pantry foods of their store. An honorable mention goes to the bulk section, which includes honey, spices, and deli meat.
Basically, you can go for almost any section in the Sprouts Farmers Market except a few.
Sprouts farmers market is a great place to search for some organic produce. But to think that all of their products are organic would be gullible. They too sell food drowned in preservatives, colors and chemicals. You just have to have a clear idea of what to look for when you are at stores like these.
After reading this article, I hope you already know what to buy from Sprouts and what to avoid. I hope you will never again need to ask “Is Sprouts Farmers Market Really Organic?” to anyone. Good luck with buying natural grocery products from the Sprouts Farmers Market or any other grocery store in the US.
