Meat + Poultry - May 2007 - 90

FSI INSIDE THOUGHTS

America's wealth will shape
future food trends

■

First it was natural. Then organic. Now
"eat local" is the fashionable trend.
Americans love trendy foods. The Atkins
diet, for instance, was a fashionable trend
that rapidly swept throughout America's
food system. But about the time food companies developed new products to capitalize
on the Atkins fad, it was over.
Food trends may indicate many things
about Americans - a desire to eat healthy
or a desire to help the environment - but
mainly those trends help confirm that
Americans are wealthy. And because we are
wealthy, we can afford to make a lot of different demands on our food system.
Food spending is one measure of household well-being. According to a report issued earlier this spring by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research
Service, between 2003 and 2004, per-capita
spending on food in U.S. urban areas rose
from $2,035 to $2,207. That's nearly an 8
percent increase in at-home food expenditures and a 9.3 percent increase in awayfrom-home food expenses.
While American's spent more per person
on food over the same period, per-capita
food expenditures as a share of total income
in urban areas dropped from 9.8 percent to
9.5 percent. Of course, those households
with the lowest incomes spent a greater
share of their income on food. In 2003, according to ERS data, urban households with
incomes in the bottom 20 percent of the income distribution spent $1,769 per person
for total food, or 37.3 percent of total
household income. Households in the top 20
percent of the income distribution spent
$2,737 per person for food, or just 6.6 percent of total household income. ERS also
notes that wealthier households spent more
of their food budgets on away-from-home
food than other households.Other data
from the ERS study shows that, in 2004, urban one-person households spent more
than twice as much per person on food as
households of six or more persons. Smaller
households also spent a much larger share
of their food budget on food consumed
away from home than larger households.

2 FSI

FOOD SYSTEMS

ınsıder

MAY 2007

And as the age of the household increased,
so, too, did urban per-capita food expenditures in 2004. Once the head of the household reached age 64, however, per-capita
food spending started to decline. Households headed by persons age 55 to
64 spent the most on food consumed
away from home.
Data tracking food spending can provide important information for businesses
throughout the food system, but just as
important is how America's changing population dynamics will affect the food system.
Well documented is the fact that America's
population is aging. But with age, many
Americans are choosing to relocate. ERS
released separate data last month detailing
how an influx of retirees and ethnic populations is changing the profile of rural areas.
According to ERS, "non-metro" America
is less ethnically diverse and older than the
rest of America, though demographic trends
indicate some changes ahead. For instance,
retirees are moving to some rural areas rich
in natural and cultural amenities, such as
those with proximity to ocean, lakes or
mountains.
At the other end of the age distribution,
Hispanics, many of whom are foreign-born,
are settling in non-metro counties, taking
jobs in farming, construction and manufacturing. Foreign-born population growth -
fueled by international migration and reinforced by a younger population and higher
fertility rates - has mitigated and, in some
cases, reversed the long-term patterns of declining and aging populations in many Midwestern and Great Plains counties.
Shifts in food spending and changing
population dynamics will surely create new
food trends. Some may be brief, such as the
Atkins diet fad, while others may last significantly longer. But because of America's
wealth, any new and fashionable food trend
will almost certainly include demands for
better quality and/or more rigorous production protocols. Americans have the best food
on the planet, and they expect it to improve.
Greg Henderson

Greg Henderson

In this issue ...
Bring in the Clones
Cloning is a powerful,
safe and misunderstood
tool for animal
agriculture. . . . . . . . . . . 4
Stirring the genetic pot
Modern DNA technology
allows new genetic
combinations in our
food. Is this a brave new
agricultural world or an
impending disaster? . . . 9
FSI Insights . . . . . . . . . . 14
FSI Numbers. . . . . . . . . 15
Media Watch:
Animal rights on
the menu . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Insider on theWeb:
www.foodsystemsinsider.com

http://www.foodsystemsinsider.com

Meat + Poultry - May 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meat + Poultry - May 2007