Last weekend’s Natural Products Expo West set an attendance record, organizers say: some 56,000 people from across the country packed the Anaheim Convention Center for the four-day event, which ended Sunday.

The Expo was exclusively business to business and not open to the public. But some of the products on display — from gluten-free brownies to organic shampoo to energy drinks – could well appear on local store shelves.

Friday, the first day of the actual trade show, also saw protesters from the Organic Consumers Association outside the Expo entrance, calling out shampoos and other products they believe do not meet adequate standards defining what is “organic.”

The event’s organizers say they are seeing a steady increase in the natural products market, in spite of — and perhaps partly because of  — the recession. They cite U.S. nutrition industry sales of $110 billion in 2009, a $10 billion increase over 2008.

Some sellers of natural foods and products, among them some of the more than 70 Orange County businesses that displayed products at the event, say the recession has increased consumer interest in preparing and eating food at home. About 1,700 companies from around the country put their products on display.

Latest posts:

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.