Food Processing - December 2007 - (Page 28)

TWO KEY SHOWS FROM OCTOBER Pack/Process Expo: Emphases on safety, sustainability Coming on the heels of several food safety crises, two of the three keynote speeches at co-located Pack Expo and Process Expo were on food safety, not on efforts at being green or sustainable or on other packaging issues. However, much of the talk on the show ﬂoor was about those packaging issues as well as energy savings, as the combined shows set new records for attendance (visitors were up 10 percent over the 2006 show to 23,960), exhibiting companies (1,776) and exhibit space (701,326 sq. ft.) “We’re not really facing a crisis, but we are facing a challenge.” That was how Cal Dooley, president/CEO of the Grocery Manufacturers Assn., summed up the recent food safety problems posed by ground beef, frozen pot pies, chili sauce, pet food and spinach. Dooley, formerly both a farmer and a U.S. representative, delivered the keynote address on the opening day (Oct. 15) of the twin shows in Las Vegas. With the Topps ground beef and ConAgra pot pie recalls just about a week old, his speech, “Consumer conﬁdence: A shared objective of the consumer packaged goods industry and policy makers,” was very timely. Recent recalls he noted and their costs: • ConAgra peanut butter $66 million • Spinach $25-50 million • Pet food $40+ million • Chili sauce $35 million • Topps ground beef $31 million And with increased concern over imported goods, GMA proposed to Congress “The four pillars of food safety”: 1. A mandatory foreign supplier quality assurance program 2. A voluntary qualiﬁed importer food safety program 3. Capacity building with a foreign focus (expand the capacity of foreign governments and their food safety agencies to prevent and detect food problems) 4. Capacity building with U.S. border focus (to increase import inspection or control) John Luke, chairman/CEO of MeadWestvaco Corp., delivered the second day’s keynote on “Brand sustainability.” He discussed his company’s sustainability efforts and challenged others to take a “holistic” look at sustainability to ensure that industry moves MORE ON THE WEB beyond the simple conOur complete report from Pack/Prostruct of “reuse, reduce cess Expo, including the most excitand recycle.” ing new products introduced, is on Final keynoter was our web site at www.FoodProcessing. David Acheson, FDA’s com/articles/2007/297.html. asst. commissioner of food protection. Speaking just days before the agency unveiled its Food Protection Plan, he could offer no speciﬁcs – except to say FDA recognizes “it’s time for a new approach.” 28 • FOOD PROCESSING DECEMBER 2007 Worldwide Food Expo: Where’s the next trend? When Harry Balzer, vice president NPD Group, discusses the latest ﬁ ndings of the company’s National Eating Trends, audiences listen. As he pointed out in his Worldwide Food Expo presentation, “Consumer Trends: What America Eats and Drinks,” consumer behavior doesn’t change dramatically, it changes slowly and manufacturers should attempt to sort out trends from fads. “ ‘If I show you what’s in the product, you’ll change your behavior,’ was the goal when the Nutrition Labeling & Education Act was passed in 1990,” Balzer said at the late-October show. But according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), among adults aged 20-74 years the prevalence of obesity increased from 15.0 percent (in the 1976-1980 survey) MORE ON THE WEB to 32.9 percent (in the A bigger report from Worldwide Food 2003-2004 survey). Expo, including products introduced, On the positive side, is on our web site at www.FoodProobesity and overweight cessing.com/articles/2007/298.html. statistics are ﬂattening out, as Americans attempt to get ﬁt. In contrast, the hottest menu items in restaurants are snack wraps and fried chicken sandwiches, rather than last year’s favorite: salad. Checking out labels has become a national obsession. Balzer says consumers consider calories (49.2 percent), total fat (46.5 percent) and sugars (41.7 percent) the most important things to monitor, and they are also concerned about trans fat. Also on the plus side for food manufacturers, consumers give positive marks to foods containing whole grains and ﬁber, antioxidants, omega-3s and yogurt. And some 24.5 percent of the population says it buys organic products occasionally. After a decade of decline, preparing meals at home rose from 850 in 2006 to 861 in 2007, says Balzer. More men are wearing the toque (12.6 percent) compared to 11.3 percent in 2006. Part of that can be attributed to more working moms. Today’s moms are feeding their kids nearly identical foods for breakfast as moms did two decades ago. “New moms today are asking the same question their moms asked when deciding what to feed the kids, ‘What is the easiest way to get this job done?’ ” says Balzer. “Often times, it’s the way their mom did it.” Convenience and portability reign with mom, so bacon and eggs breakfasts are being replaced with frozen wafﬂes (up 19 percent from 20 years ago), yogurt (up 15 percent) and toaster pastries (up 12 percent). The big loser is toast, down by 20 percent. Balzer concluded by saying Americans like to try new things … “but don’t mistake this for a trend.” Other ﬁ ndings include: It takes generations to change what we perceive tastes good; Convenience is No. 1, we always move to easier ways to prepare food; and Cost is key. “Never let food costs rise faster than incomes.” WWW.FOODPROCESSING.COM http://www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2007/298.html http://www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2007/298.html http://www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2007/297.html http://www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2007/297.html http://www.foodprocessing.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Food Processing - December 2007

Contents Editor's Plate NewsBites Rollout Food Biz Kids Processor of the Year: Mars Snackfood U.S. Mass Production Meets Custom Manufacturing Product Development: Bone appetit! Show Report: Pack/Process Expo and Worldwide Food Expo New Product Profiles Toops Scoops

Food Processing - December 2007

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