# Health Food Stores/Organics Products in Egypt



## neworleansgirl

Hello Fellow Expats!

I was wondering if anyone knew if there are any Health Food Stores in Cairo (such as Whole Foods Market in the US and UK)? Also, where would I be able to find organic produce in Cairo?

Thanks for your Help! :clap2:


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## SHendra

I don't know of the health stores but do know you can find Organic veg (unsure of fruit) in Carrefour, Metro and even Fathalla Supermarkets. Sometimes you can find some other things there too. 

This country lacks pretty much when it comes to buying baby food (jar kinds) so I been buying the organic veg for my son instead to be on the safe side when making my own! lol

I also notice an organic farm yesturday which is somewhere on the Cairo-Alex road. I ain't so sure if we can go buy direct though! Nor can I remember the name of the place!


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## MensEtManus

If you are "serious" about organic food, make sure it is imported. I am sure there are some honest local brands, but the majority are not. I've found that several local brands claim things that are not true. The biggest brand I've found to claim to sell organic products but in reality does not is "ISIS"


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## aykalam

MensEtManus said:


> If you are "serious" about organic food, make sure it is imported. I am sure there are some honest local brands, but the majority are not. I've found that several local brands claim things that are not true. The biggest brand I've found to claim to sell organic products but in reality does not is "ISIS"


 I guess I should not be surprised, since they pack everything in layers of plastic, not very "green" really. So, where do they sell imported organic?


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## Whiskey96

Try checking out "Wadi Foods"....


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## MaidenScotland

Yes there is on in Zamalek but I can´t put my hands on the address right now but if you know where Cupcakes is then take the first turning on your left after that and further up the street on the right hand side there is an organic food shop


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## jemiljan

MensEtManus said:


> If you are "serious" about organic food, make sure it is imported. I am sure there are some honest local brands, but the majority are not. I've found that several local brands claim things that are not true. The biggest brand I've found to claim to sell organic products but in reality does not is "ISIS"


Why do you say that ISIS isn't Organic?

Just curious...


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## Jamjoom

It's true. Isis is not organic.
The best place to get organic food is actually organic places like countrysides. My doorman is from an area in Sharqeyya and once every 2 weeks he goes home and i pay him to bring us organic vegetables and fruit from some private farms that we know use no chemicals. It has been working perfectly.


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## MaidenScotland

jemiljan said:


> Why do you say that ISIS isn't Organic?
> 
> Just curious...




This is a two year old thread.. Men no longer posts but I would guess he says this because quite simply you cannot believe anything your told here.


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## jemiljan

MaidenScotland said:


> This is a two year old thread.. Men no longer posts but I would guess he says this because quite simply you cannot believe anything your told here.


When I lived here in the early-mid 90's, ISIS and SEKEM both had certification by Demeter Int'l, for biodynamic products, which is more stringent than the standards for organic. After seeing this post, I noticed that their products are now regulated by the Centre of Organic Agriculture in Egypt (COAE), which Abouleish co-founded. So, I've written to them, asking them to clarify their currently standards for labelling. I also noticed that Demeter didn't list SEKEM and their products in their online database. So I wrote to Demeter to clarify SEKEM's status as well.

Today I received a reply from the Head of the Demeter International office, after I inquired I inquired about their current status. Basically, she explained that they are still Demeter members, they are required to adhere to their standards, but simply haven't updated the information in their database. Here is her reply:

The Biodynamic Association in Egypt is full member of Demeter-International, see members & guest members | demeter.net

and has an own Demeter certification programme. This is run by the COAE, who issues not only organic certificates but also Demeter certificates for Egyptian operations.

Demeter International Standards have to be implemented as minimum standards in all member countries, thus also in Egypt .

Our international product database does not contain all certification data yet (and in any case only those operations who agreed to be published).

Some certifiers are still in the process to prepare the data, so that they are ready for an automatic import. Therefore you cannot find the Egypt ian data yet - but soon. I am in close contact with our colleagues from Egypt .

Of course is Sekem an old Demeter partner and still holds a Demeter certification.

But the Sekem group has grown a a lot as you know, so we kindly request you to ask the details to their certifier:

COAE

Center of Organic Agriculture in Egypt

14 Ibrahim Shawarby St. New Nozha

P. O. Box 1535 Alf Maskan

11777 Cairo

EGYPT

phone +20 226248819

fax +20 226248819

[email protected]

The Center of Organic Agriculture

I still have not heard back from either SEKEM nor COAE. Will keep you posted.


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## jemiljan

For those interested, I received a reply from SEKEM:

*Yes, we are Demeter certified. On the website of Demeter International however are only their country representations as members listed. In Egypt this is the Egyptian Biodynamic Assocation whose farmers, all Demeter certified just like SEKEM, are suppliers to the SEKEM companies.
All SEKEM farms and production facilities are inspected regularly by the COAE (Center of Organic Agriculture Egypt), which is regularly inspected by the DAR (Deutscher Akkreditierungsrat). The COAE is accepted as any other European DEMETER and Organic certification body. Enclosed you find the list of control bodies and control authorities for the purpose of equivalence and relevant specifications as mentioned in article 10. COAE is also mentioned on the list of 30 Control Bodies, page 21.
With regard to organic and biodynamic: Demeter certified means biodynamic which SEKEM is. Biodynamic is organic and more because it for example requires closed nutrient cycles of the farms (e.g. including livestock and own compost production). Biodynamic is therefore a form of organic+. 
You can find all certifications for the companies in our annual Report on Sustainable Development on http://www.sekem.com/Report on Sustainable Development.

We hope this answers and clarifies your concerns and if we can be at any further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact us anytime.
*

Also note this article from Egypt Independent, published last May. The following quote is interesting:



> According to a farm owner who wished to remain anonymous, fruits and vegetables in Egypt that are not organic are highly contaminated with pesticides. Her farm, although not organic, adheres to high regulations imposed by British authorities since all her produce is sent for export. The produce that is rejected by the UK is bought by Egyptian consumers and sold in the market.
> 
> This, she believes is due to the complete lack of quality control by Egyptian authorities. She believes that when deciding what produce to buy, it is safest to stick to organic.


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## jemiljan

*The politics of food*

Here is another interesting article from _Egypt Independent_ on the quality of food grown in Egypt:

*The politics of food
Louise Sarant
Thu, 08/11/2012 - 13:49*



















Egypt’s food production suffers from schizophrenia: it ranges from a tomato grown in sewage water and sprayed by killer pesticides to a perfect orange, grown following strict international quality and safety standards. The fruit and vegetable stalls in souqs all over the country are flooded with produce belonging to the former category, while most of the high-end, locally grown produce is exported to Europe and other markets.

“The highest quality products that Egypt produces are inaccessible to the normal consumer,” explains Asuncion Molinos, a Spanish visual artist who inaugurated her latest art installation “El Matam El Mish-Masry” in the informal neighborhood of Ard al-Lewa in northwest Giza.

Through the creation of a restaurant with aesthetics that correspond to any street food venue in Egypt’s popular neighborhoods, Molinos aspires to open a conversation on food in the public sphere. “This conversation should be happening in politics, but unfortunately it is not on their agenda,” she deplores. “Healthy food is the best medicine, we could alleviate so many diseases if people had access to clean, nutritious and vitamin filled food,” she says.

But, this food is out of reach for 99 percent of the Egyptian population. 










The temporary restaurant that Molinos has opened will run for the entire month, with each week focusing on one dimension of the food problems Egypt is currently facing. This week, all the dishes that are served (which range in price from LE1 to LE5) use Egypt’s higher quality produce, which is either exported directly to Europe or purchased by the local elite.

Every day, the restaurant will propose a unique menu composed of one soup of the day, two or three salads, one to two main courses and a dessert. “I just want people to rediscover what normal food is, and should be,” she says, explaining that her definition of normal food is food that has been grown by farmers over the entire human history until the Green Revolution of the 1960s, which started applying industrial practices to agriculture.

“I don’t like to use the term organic because not only has it been overused and acts as a brand, but also because the term is often misused, and some produce are dubbed “organic” when they really are not.” According to Molinos, “ordinary food” instead of being the exception, should be the norm again, just like it was for all of human history.

Egypt’s agricultural policies rely on cash crops, which were presented by economists as the solution for buying food that can not be grown locally. However, these cash crops require vast acres of land, suck up Egypt’s scarce water resources and win over viable agricultural land that should be used to grow what Egypt consumes the most: wheat and corn.

Egypt imports more than half of its wheat supplies, mostly from the US but also from Russia, Argentina and France. Whenever a natural disaster strikes in these countries, like the great drought in the US this summer or the latest superstorm Sandy, Egypt faces difficulties in importing enough to feed its population, especially considering that bread makes up a third of the Egyptian diet.

Molinos believes that only a grassroots movement composed of farmers, researchers and university professors can create a coalition to defend the people’s rights to decent food, and farmers’ rights to a better lifestyle.

Reem Saad, a professor of social anthropology at the American University, is a specialist in rural issues. She told Egypt Independent that she is trying, along with her colleague Habib Ayeb, a geographer and professor in Cairo’s Social Research Center, to include the concept of food sovereignty in the new draft of the constitution in the making.

“I believe that food sovereignty should be the cornerstone of Egypt’s post-revolution food policies,” she stresses. Food sovereignty is a concept coined by members of the international coalition “Via Campesina,” which groups over 148 organizations that advocate a family farm-based sustainable agriculture. Food sovereignty refers to a policy framework that recognizes the right of people to define their own food and agricultural systems according to their needs and not according to the needs of the global market.

“This concept is very different from the idea of ‘food security’” asserts Saad, because food security’s only concern is to provide enough food and is strongly entangled with the fear of hunger. “Food sovereignty is about the quality of the produce, not just the quantity, and the welfare of the ones who produce our food, the peasants.”

She also explains that agricultural and trade policies of the last decades have shown a constant lack of vision on food, and that it all comes down to a political choice: what type of agricultural policies do we want and where do we put public investment? “It is absurd that only the biggest agribusinesses receive help from the government!” she says.

Neither Molinos nor Saad are against Egypt exporting part of its agricultural produce, but what they advocate for is a vision and the prioritization of local consumers. “The idea is not to go back to the Middle Ages, it is just to have a shift of priorities,” Molinos explains. “Egypt should grow healthy, nutritious food for its population, and sell the excess produce on the international market,” she adds.










Khaled Zayed works for the food supplier company El-Nour in sales. The company he works for supplies many five-star hotel and gourmet restaurants in Egypt with the highest quality fruits and vegetables grown in the country.

“All the farms we work with have a Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification,” he says. The GAP is a collection of criteria that ensures the food is safe and healthy, while taking into account social, economical and environmental sustainability. “We sign agreements with these farms, then we have a quality control team which checks the product and in the final stage we take care of the packaging,” explains Zayed.

To clarify the process of quality standards, he takes the example of a tomato. “We check the tomato’s coloration, its diameter, and the chemicals that have been used, because some of them are allowed under the GAP certification, while others are completely banned.”

The Hilton, GW Mariott and Four Seasons are the major clients of El-Nour company, and recently Offah.com, an online premium fruits and vegetable supplier, joined the list of the company’s clients.

Since great food grows in Egypt, the actual challenge is to how to democratize access to cheap, healthy food. “It all comes down to dignity,” Ahmed el-Droubi from Greenpeace Egypt said in a previous interview with Egypt Independent. “Food in quantity is not sufficient: quality and dignity need to prevail.”

*“El Matam El Mish-Masry” runs until 27 November, 5–10 pm at Artellewa, 19 Mohamed Ali El Eseary Street, Ard al-Lewa, Giza.*


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## jemiljan

*Fresh veggies at your doorstep, with a digital Offah*

This article from_ Egypt Independent_ was published several months ago, but still interesting. Has anyone used this service? 

*Fresh veggies at your doorstep, with a digital Offah*
Amany Aly Shawky
Tue, 12/06/2012 - 16:20

“Offah” is the traditional Egyptian basket made out of palm leaves used to carry food gifts. It is also the name of a website — offah.com — launched last year during Ramadan. It is a new consumer-goods website that delivers fresh vegetables, fruit and homemade frozen meals.

“For a year, we have been lying low to perfect the door-to-door service and make sure we deliver perfect-quality products,” says Giancarolo Rispoli, the founder of Offah. The website’s main goal is to cater to busy women who juggle work and household responsibilities, prioritize healthy food and care about the quality of their consumer goods and the well-being of the environment.

“The idea came along when my partner, Omar Hegab, and I wanted to establish an e-commerce business that is service-oriented and targets women,” says Rispoli. The website includes rare vegetables that are hard to find in regular Egyptian markets, such as black and red tomatoes, bok choy and white cabbage.

The website operates only in English. Rispoli says the use of the English language was on purpose to constrain demand and give the growing business the time to perfect its service and the quality of its products.

“Fifteen days from now, the site will operate in both English and Arabic to broaden the range of our customers and be more quantifiable,” Rispoli says. “We deal only with reliable agribusinesses that monitor their use of pesticide, irrigation, water sources and drainage processes,” says Rispoli, who is half Italian.

Offah deals with large and medium agribusinesses that have niches in the market in a certain product. “Our principle is simple and efficient: from Egypt to Egypt,” he says.

He says it’s the combination of innovation, technology and imagination that makes the company’s products unique and accessible. But Offah steers away from calling its products organic. “We do not use the appellation ‘organic’ due to the use of pesticides in Egyptian farms and the old irrigation systems, but we aim to have pesticide-free products,” Rispoli says.

Rispoli says Offah uses the products with the longest elapsed time between pesticide application and cropping, which guarantees the natural quality of the product and makes it pesticide-free.

Offah also seeks to carry its social responsibility toward the small farmers of Egypt.

“We are very aware of our social responsibility as a growing business and envision our project as a provider of superior quality products and an alleviator of poverty among small Egyptian farmers as long as they abide to our quality guidelines,” Rispoli says.

The aim of the e-business, he adds, is to provide a pesticide-free product that respects the environment.

The website is attractive, and the layout is clear and user-friendly. Orders are delivered within 24 hours, either between 2 pm and 6 pm or 6 pm and 9 pm, according to the customer’s preference.

Aside from being a provider of certified natural fruits and vegetables, Offah also offers a catering service that provides homemade Oriental foods such as kobeba, hawawshi, sambousak, quail and vine leaves. The company also offers an array of recipes for international and Oriental cuisine.

Note: the website for this company is Home page - Offah.com


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## jemiljan

I've just been told about this new site that provides a rundown on companies and organisations devoted to healthy living in Egypt:

Healthy Living Cairo - Home


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## Biffy

I find the sentiments expressed in the article very lofty and noble - but surely to supply the populace of Egypt with these expensive to grow (and unfortunately they are) top grade fruit and vegetables is not feasible.

The majority of the population have a very limited budget, many are well below what we would call the poverty line - so to expect them to pay more for food is not possible. Many just about keep themselves nourished and have no high expectations to eat 'organic' food - hey are glad to have any food on the table at the end of the day!

Unfortunately the government has to be to producing as much food as possible - not to produce high quallity food with a lower yield and at a considerably high price.


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## jemiljan

Biffy said:


> I find the sentiments expressed in the article very lofty and noble - but surely to supply the populace of Egypt with these expensive to grow (and unfortunately they are) top grade fruit and vegetables is not feasible.
> 
> The majority of the population have a very limited budget, many are well below what we would call the poverty line - so to expect them to pay more for food is not possible. Many just about keep themselves nourished and have no high expectations to eat 'organic' food - hey are glad to have any food on the table at the end of the day!
> 
> Unfortunately the government has to be to producing as much food as possible - not to produce high quallity food with a lower yield and at a considerably high price.


Sure enough, but you are stating the obvious. Not all organic food has to be "considerably" higher. Since conventional food prices are rapidly rising, it is making organics more competitive.

My main concern is that after I personally observed what appeared to be a nice patch of cauliflower growing using water from a nearby ditch that was polluted, sickly, and disgusting and learned that raw sewage is used on many "regular" vegetables, and knowing that salmonella outbreaks have occurred even in the US where I am from due to similar circumstances, I would personally like to consume something devoid of chemicals that is safer. My colleague from work told me yesterday that she bought fresh spinach that only later she realised reeked of pesticides.


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## jemiljan

Just noting that yesterday I successfully purchased my first order from Offah. They arrived right at 2pm, and had all but 2 items. I ordered a mix of organic and conventional vegetables. The organics included Makar Farms, as well as another outfit I hadn't heard of before, Jana Agriculture. They bear the official EU logo for non-Eu grown organic food, certified through the Italian Istituto Mediterraneo di Certificazione (IMC) (Code IT Bio 003), which apparently operates a branch office in Mohandeseen. It's the first time that I've seen that logo on food sold here in Egypt.


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## Biffy

But of course it has to be higher in price.

The yield is less with organic crops - exactly due to the fact that they don't use pesticides.

But also take care the ethics here at not as you would expect in the US / Europe.

Stamps / certificates, etc. can be surprisingly easy to buy here.
Baksheesh is the norm.

In my opinion (after working in the food industry a long time - both in the UK, Middle east and here) I would only rely on certificates if the certificating body / auditors came from outside EGypt - then they have some morals and scruples and are not open to the culture of baksheesh!


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## jemiljan

Biffy said:


> But of course it has to be higher in price.
> 
> The yield is less with organic crops - exactly due to the fact that they don't use pesticides.
> 
> But also take care the ethics here at not as you would expect in the US / Europe.
> 
> Stamps / certificates, etc. can be surprisingly easy to buy here.
> Baksheesh is the norm.
> 
> In my opinion (after working in the food industry a long time - both in the UK, Middle east and here) I would only rely on certificates if the certificating body / auditors came from outside EGypt - then they have some morals and scruples and are not open to the culture of baksheesh!


Of course, Biffy. I first came here 26 years ago, so I don't really need any lectures on being skeptical about the claims that some businesses make. I'm entirely for having a healthy sense of skepticism, but I'm also equally for backing up claims and assertions with some modicum of proof. Unfortunately, I've often found that highly exaggerated, if not unfounded hearsay is rampant within the expat community. So some of the things that expats say also deserve to be treated with skepticism, especially when they cast aspersions but can't really manage to produce any tangible evidence to justify doing so. 

For example, I just mentioned EU organic labelling on Jana Agriculture that is accredited by the IMC, which has their main office outside of Egypt. Are these stickers "...surprisingly easy to buy here"? From where? Do you have any verifiable information that the IMC is accrediting produce that can be sold in Europe that doesn't actually meet EU standards? 

That most of the best produce from Egypt is sold in Europe is something very well established (see the previous articles). There are a number of farms here that raise produce for export, and they are successfully selling it, otherwise they wouldn't earn a living. So why can't those same farms that provide produce for the EU market offer the same products locally? Sorry, but this is clearly a case where vaguely worded aspersions about Egyptians being generally untrustworthy, deceptive, and immoral isn't very convincing. If anything, it just comes across as sour, jaded expat-speak.


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## jemiljan

For anyone interested, there is a vigorous discussion about the claims made by purveyors of natural and "organic" foods here in Egypt. Everything from independent scientific analyses of specific products to new vendors:

https://m.facebook.com/groups/29305...26676&notif_t=group_comment_reply&ref=m_notif


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## jemiljan

Another new story on urban Farmers' Markets:

Al-Tahrir News Network | Cairo Trends: Urban Farmers’ Markets


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## jemiljan

...and another story:

How Green Are My Greens? | Egypt Today


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## shaks

jemiljan said:


> ...and another story: How Green Are My Greens? | Egypt Today


thanks


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## Moushera

neworleansgirl said:


> Hello Fellow Expats!
> 
> I was wondering if anyone knew if there are any Health Food Stores in Cairo (such as Whole Foods Market in the US and UK)? Also, where would I be able to find organic produce in Cairo?
> 
> Thanks for your Help! :clap2:



Hi NGS Egypt on-line shop delivers. They also carry Divine Coconut Certified Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, which is amazing!!


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## jemiljan

Moushera said:


> Hi NGS Egypt on-line shop delivers. They also carry Divine Coconut Certified Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, which is amazing!!


I still haven't ordered from them, but I have used GoGreen a few times, which also carries the Divine coconut you like. 

Here is a list someone put together of various vendors in Cairo

http://www.cairocooking.com/food-sources-in-egypt/

By the way, anyone on Maadi should check out Ma7ali

https://m.facebook.com/eatma7ali/


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## jemiljan

Hey gang, here is a terrific article on Makar Farms in Mada Masr:
Growing a market for organic produce: Makar Farms | MadaMasr


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## beatricemcgraw01

neworleansgirl said:


> Hello Fellow Expats!
> 
> I was wondering if anyone knew if there are any Health Food Stores in Cairo (such as Whole Foods Market in the US and UK)? Also, where would I be able to find organic produce in Cairo?
> 
> Thanks for your Help! :clap2:


When I visited Egypt, I find food stores easily.


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