When Undue Health Claims Supersede Genuine Environmental Efforts: Evidence from Experimental Auctions with Bordeaux Wine Consumers

According to the latest studies, the demand for organic food is more often driven by health than by environmental considerations. It may therefore seem surprising to observe certain industries allowing organic products to be challenged by products that claim health benefits more directly. The question thus arises as to the real threat to the organic market posed by "healthy" products, and hence the impact on the ecological transition of agricultural practices brought about by organic specifications. In this paper, we examine the reality of this threat, taking it to the extreme situation of a product today classified as harmful, yet for which sanitary considerations have been recently conveyed on markets, namely wines without sulfites, considering the competition they can exert on organic wines. Through an experimental market based on a tasting of Bordeaux wines specifically produced for the purpose of the experiment, conducted at two-year intervals and involving a large sample of over four hundred consumers, we observe the significance of the health demand among wine consumers, which increases as the niche of organic wine buyers is considered. We also note that this niche asymmetrically sanctions the presence of sulfites in organic wines, without applying the same principles to conventional wines, a threat that could lead to a certain decline in interest once these products are required to reveal their composition, as is the case for the majority of processed products.