For you, who always look for a better quality of produce with the purest ingredients, the ALPHAMEGA hypermarkets offer you the greatest variety of organic products. A huge range of products that can satisfy the most demanding customers. Going through the aisles with organic products you will find a variety of pastas, cereals, muesli, oatmeal, milk, honey, jams, flour, semolina, rice puddings, biscuits, cream and chocolate biscuits, soya mince, margarine, legumes, rice, olives, sugar, bread, tahini, herbs and spices. Now for your convenience you can find these products as well at their category aisles.

 In the refrigerators you can find several kinds of yogurt drinks and yogurts, cheeses, fetas, halloumi and desserts. Finally, at the fruit market, you will find a great variety of fruits (fresh and dry), vegetables and legumes.

We give you below the answers to the most frequent questions relating to  organic products.

What are organic products?

Organic products are mainly, but not only, country products whose production was based on natural processes. This means the use of alternative ways to chemical methods of fighting diseases, weeds and other enemies (non-use of synthetics pesticides, fertilizers or weed killers) as well as alternative techniques of production, such as alternation of cultivations, recycling of vegetable and animal remains, the use, as far as possible, of indigenous kinds of animals and plants, natural diets and free and healthy grazing etc.

What more do organic products offer us?

They are clearly healthier as they had not been produced without additives that are outside  natural ways of life, such as hormones, synthetic fertilizers, vitamins, antibiotics etc. They are safe for our health as they have no traces of fertilizers and pesticides. They have a superior nutritional value and often they are more tasty and fragrant. Finally, they are cultivated with methods that are much friendlier to the environment thus contributing to the protection of our planet.

How do you ensure that the products you buy are organic?

There are independent agencies accredited by the government that check, during the period of cultivation the life but also the transformation of products, that they are produced on the required preconditions so as to be organic. If everything is done according to the principles of organic cultivation, then they are certified by the above agencies with a seal that is stamped on the packages and that guarantees that the product is organic. This detailed sequence of checks guarantees that the products you buy, as long as they are certified, are certainly completely organic. What is more, this checking system is applied internationally and, for its practical application, agencies beyond the  sovereignty of Cyprus take part.

Why are organic products dearer than conventional ones?

In principle, organic products use cultivating methods that do contribute to the quantitative growth of a product. The absence of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides reduces production and often minimizes diseases and insects that cause damage. The same thing happens with weeds that are removed through digging by hand and this is something that raises the cost of production.

In animal husbandry the same problem arises with the same intensity. Natural substances are used and not any synthetic additives with their well-known repercussions on the health of man, but they do not increase the volumes of production of conventional methods. In spite of this, as long as organic cultivations are developed and established as they ought to do the cost and prices should fall to levels which are absolutely competitive.

Why is the external appearance of organic fruits and vegetables not as good as that of conventional products?

The varieties of plants, their feeding (fertilizers, hormones), the protection of the plants and a series of other cultivating procedures force fruits and vegetables to acquire an appearance, shape and colour that are not completely consistent with their physical characteristics. This becomes worse in varieties that are preferred by organical agriculture  and which are local with minimal or even no exogenous improvements. These reasons make the organic products to be worse looking than the conventional ones but at the same time they are more tasty and healthier.

Can organic products cover the totality of needs of present day consumers?

For the time being in Cyprus there are not enough agencies occupied with the production of organic products. It is of course a fact that there is a great variety of products (as we mentioned above) that can account for a large part of our diet.