From specialty television networks taking us ever deeper into the lives of celebrity chefs to social media feeds specializing in what has come to be known as “food porn”, American consumers seem to have an endless appetite for food…both real and digital.
2017, What’s Trending?
For many consumers, food is practically available anywhere and at almost any time with convenience being a key product attribute. Having said this, recent trend analysis reveals that consumers are not merely looking for fast and cheap but convenient and healthy with many chains and operators looking to refresh their menus to attract and retain a quality conscious and social responsibility aware demographic.
Within the Millennial and Gen Z demographic one finds consumers who not only appreciate nutrition but who equate food with health and any food marketer failing to meet the needs of these consumers does so at their peril. More broadly, consumer surveys reveal preferences for authentic global flavors, street food inspired and plant centric dishes. While clean labels with fewer ingredients are often perceived of as being more wholesome, there is an equal desire for clear labels given the cacophony of messages that are often plastered all about a food product’s front panel real estate.
Long associated with higher per capita meat consumption, more and more Americans are looking to add a varied range of vegetable and plant based foods to their diets with frozen fruits and vegetables providing convenient access to a wide range of nutritious food offerings. In addition to such traditional fare as frozen peas, carrots and corn the modern frozen food aisle now includes quinoa and ancient grain based frozen meals, frozen riced cauliflower suitable for carbohydrate reduced diets as well as frozen vegetable blends inspired from international cuisine.
A Changing Mindset
“Farm Fresh, Dirt Cheap” may have been a snazzy marketing slogan in the past, however, this type of messaging is not likely to draw consumers advocating for sustainable agricultural practices; animal welfare policies and a more equitable food production system in general. While the productionist school of agriculture suggests there will be a need for a 70% increase in food production to meet global population needs by 2050, 30% of the world’s current global food output is wasted. In the developing world, changing climatic conditions and inadequate infrastructure are often cited for harvest spoilage while food waste in the industrialized economies is more likely to be found at the point of consumption. Either way, food waste represents an enormous waste of nutrients, water and energy of interest to an increasing number of consumers pressing for greater social responsibility throughout the food system.
Foods that can be readily prepared and are convenient to use with clean labels listing limited but healthy ingredients with a pinch of global flavors while also possessing broader social benefits are what consumers are looking for, but what about regulators?
These pages have included details on the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), being the most sweeping update to American food safety legislation to have been enacted over the past 70 years. Part of FMSA’s objective is to see America shift away from a reaction based food safety system and towards a prevention focused system. While a great deal of international attention has been directed to FSMA, the United States is hardly the only country to have or moving towards a modernized food safety regulatory system. The E.U. already has a prevention focused approach while January 2017 saw Canada release its proposed regulations under the Safe Food for Canadians Act (SFCA).
Like FSMA, the SFCA places the onus on industry to ensure food safety by licensing stakeholders engaged in the import, export and interprovincial trade of food. More specifically, all food importers would be subject to licensing by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency providing CFIA with both an importer database as well as a new enforcement tool given that executing a prescribed activity without a valid license would be a prohibited act under federal law. Similarly, exporters requiring CFIA export certification would also be subject to licensing under SFCA. In short, Canada is moving towards a more prevention focused approach to public health which is partly the result of a need to impose greater accountability given the globalized nature of the modern food system. While consumers have communicated a desire for clean and clear labels, regulators in both Canada and the U.S.A. are finalizing new nutritional fact tables while also paying significant attention to product health claims…areas that industry stakeholders need to pay attention to as well.
