The New Year is Just Around the Corner

December 28, 2005

I know what you are thinking ... here's just another list of New Year’s Resolutions about eating better and getting in shape. Wrong! This year my resolutions are written for the food industry to follow!

Do what you say you are going to do. We constantly read food companies’ or fast food chains’ press releases saying all the terrific things they are going to do to improve the taste or nutritional profile of their products…in 3 months, or 6 months. By then they’ve received the press clips, and the idea is on the backburner until they use up the existing packaging and just sometimes that new and improved version never seems to get to us the consumer.

Watch, listen and read your own ads. What ever happened to food advertising being about food? Enough pseudo-celeb ads implying and endorsement that just smacks of too much money being paid to someone who is out of work and we know never even tried your products. Refocus in 2006. Tell us about your food! How it tastes, the nutritional benefits and why we should buy it!

Pay attention to ME – the shopper. With all the resources at your finger tips there is no reason to introduce food products that no one wants or buys. Understand how customers - young and old, loyal or brand switcher, Black, White or Latin, educated or not, acculturated or not, online or not — are different. Ask yourself, what are the products for each of group? How you can best communicate your message? We are not a nation of middle aged white men anymore, and you had better understand that if you want to survive!

Test EVERY cow. The potential of mad cow disease keeps me up at night. Please, do what Japan and other countries do…test every cow for mad cow BEFORE they enter our food supply.

For every new product you introduce – eliminate one. Have you been into a supermarket lately? Too many me-too products. Same price, same taste, same, same, same… ‘nough said.

Make “dollar menus” illegal. It's not that I don’t want people to save money…it's just that having these low prices falsely inflates the success of fast food chains that are headed for failure. Change the menu, unbolt the seats from the floor, move your restaurants into the areas where people actually are. I'm not saying you should go “100% health food” – but hey, isn’t it time to realize that not everyone who is time pressed, hungry and wants value has to have a fat-loaded, white bread encased hand held delicacy that was designed to taste like it's full of artificial flavors?

Be nutritionally correct. We have enough research that supports the fact that Americans are too fat, too out of shape and on the verge of a serious health dilemma with increases of heart disease, cancers, diabetes and osteoporosis. Time to look at those recipes and get out the added sugars, high fructose corn syrup, artery clogging fats, sodium and all those other ingredients that are responsible for setting us in this downward spiral. And by the way…one additional benefit might well be the cleansing of the American Palate, and we can once again discover that all foods are not sweet and loaded with fat.

Understand technology. We do, and that means that soon we will be scanning every item BEFORE we buy it with a handheld device and can read in a nano-second everything we want (and need) to know about your product. When it was made, where it was made, where it came from. We will even be able to tell YOU what those secret codes on bottles and cans actually mean. And by the way, what’s up with the check-out? Have you ever used a Mobil Speed Pass or EZ Pass toll device? It’s time.

That's it…things that are easy to do, inexpensive and will make a huge difference in the health and wellness for all Americans! It’s time for the supermarkets and food companies to unite and make us proud!

What would YOU like the food industry to change in 2006? Add your thoughts to our reader blog.

Posted on Monday 1/2 by cheryl
SIMPLIFY. SIMPLIFY. SIMPLIFY - Please!!! Bigger and more do not equal better, and in the mega-supermarket wars, the consumer is losing out. We pay too much for superfluous packaging that we have no need of (which I hate - it seems like no matter what I do, my trash can groans at the seams); we have WAY too many items to choose from and most we could also do without. My time is scarce and consequently precious - I do NOT want to spend 2-3 hours in a grocery store to find the food I want, which is usually hidden under/among all kinds of crap I don't want. I also don't like the fact that I have to shop in 3 different grocery stores to find everything - in spite of all the product they carry, no one store has all the things I like. I cook nearly everything I eat from scratch, assuming I can find the ingredients. Judging from a trip through the average grocery store, 95% of their customers go the MRE route - prepackaged, precooked, nuke-it-and-go. This stuff isn't even food - is it? There are some items I will buy ready-made, but after many disappointments, I am reluctant to try many new things, not even to save that extra few minutes I always seem not to have! I am fortunate enough to live in an area with a thriving (but expensive) farmer's market but only two "health food" stores (also expensive). The good thing is that one of the large grocery chains in the area just opened a new store with a large section of organics. Would that most of the store was organic, with only a small section of commercialized agribusiness (grrrr!) product offered...but that's simply a dream, for now.

Posted on Monday 1/2 by Donna
Most food companies dump corn and corn-derived additives into their products. Many people are allergic to corn and the sulfites used to process some forms of corn-based additives. Worse yet, the companies refuse to label their products as containing corn/sulfites, especially when used as processing or packaging aids, such as cornstarch. Most corn is genetically modified, and no one knows what that is doing to our health. And, if corn is fed to cattle to fatten them up for slaughter, it's likely to be fattening up people, too. Corn is an over-grown, cheap commodity. It is being used in more food and non-food items, then ever before. It is a health hazard for people who are allergic to corn or sulfites, and too much of it is probably not good for the non-allergic, either. Food companies can use anything they want in their own products, but at least, they could have the decency to label corn and sulfites, so people who are allergic to them, can avoid the products and the risks from accidentally eating their allergens. The new food labeling laws are useless for many food allergic people, because they are allergic to foods that are not recognized by FAAN or the FDA as being allergenic. They only deal with the big eight foods, and ignore the rest.

Posted on Monday 1/2 by Richard
Salad bars in Supermarkets may add sulphites or dyes in fruits (e.g. oranges) Some breads have formaldihide and or sulphites. Many times these are not listed to keep the consumer aware of these highly dangerous additives. Also these additives can be masked in toothpaste and listed as natural flavors and or spices. That is sometimes MSG, etc. is listed as spices. My son is highly allergic to these things.

Posted on Thursday 12/29 by Eliza
The food industry in this country is such a scary scary business. The focus on profits instead of health and truth is killing this country. The fact that organic products are more expensive than the products with tons of added crap in them has got to be one of the biggest crimes. i DONT want pesticides added to my food, so i pay more?? insanity. And the recent bill that passed to allow organic standards to be loosened is an outrage. We have a right to eat food free of chemicals.

And to the woman who mentioned Aspartame, try Stevia. It is delicious, all natural, and calorie free. And basically the same price as the latest big lie "Splenda".

Posted on Wednesday 12/28 by mike
Phil, Make your own resolutions. I work in the foodservice and do not need more busy work to help cry babies like yourself.Make a resolution to write something of interest. If you are so smart why not open a business with healthy food.If you are correct it will be a success. Be prepared to work in a brutal business my friend. Be prepared to not be able to support your family as well as you would like. Think camping for that week of vacation. If people want to eat healthy they can. People need discipline. Look at the French, they have rich foods but are not as fat as Americans! The problem is with our society.Some of us work hard to earn money for the things we want and to support the rest of the planet. If we were not working 2-3 jobs we may have time to eat better.Things will not improve anytime soon. Take care of yourself Phil, do not ask me to do it for you. Mike

Posted on Wednesday 12/28 by Kevin
This is a great list, but what it all adds up to is the fact that the food industry always does things that are important to it, and often ignores its customers. it forgets that it is the people who come into the stores that keep it is business. So yes, it ought to say what it means and mean what it says. Yes, it ought to test every cow because that's the responsible thing to do in order to assure consumer safety. Yes, it ought to pay more attention to diet and nutrition - because not only is it in customers' interests. Yes, it ought to have fewer products in general and more meaningful relevant products in particular. And yes, technology ought to be there to enhance my experience, not just make it easier to do business and save money.

But then industry has forgotten that it needs to be the consumer's advocate, not just a sales tool for manufacturers. Until that changes, this checklist for change is going to be all list, with no checks.

Posted on Wednesday 12/28 by Ivonne
You know what really irks me, Food Industry? B.S. re-packaging and re-branding of crap food to make it seem healthier. Everything from adding a note on a naturally low-carb food to say "LOW CARB" explicitly, to the creation of Nabisco's 100-calorie snack packs, which are still, even if 100 calories, full of sugar, or fat, or both, and are still not a HEALTHY snack.

And it upsets me to see healthy foods like oatmeal get bastardized by Quaker and turned into oatmeal breakfast squares or pre-pacakged mixes which contain all this extra sugar and all these additional ingredients that are so unnecessary. It's a nice start and I'm sure it's full of good intentions, in terms of helping folks with portion control, but how about just getting rid of the bad ingredients (the HFCS, the ridiculously high sugar content, the saturated fats, the artificial preservatives)?

It also drives me insane to see the amount of salt on EVERYTHING. You'd think with technology the way it's advanced in the past five or six years, you'd find a better way to "preserve" packaged foods, rather than salting the hell out of them.

And enough with the false or mis-leading sugar-free/calorie-free claims on foods containing dextrose and maltodextrin! It is NOT sugar-free and it is NOT calorie-free!

Posted on Wednesday 12/28 by Dee
Get rid of Aspartame. We need a healthy sweetener.

Posted on Wednesday 12/28 by Roland
Duh! Minimize salt.

Posted on Wednesday 12/28 by Rose
Stop the "buy one, get one free sales." I don't mind buying two boxes of cereal, but it's another thing with produce and other perishable items. As a single person, it doesn't make sense.

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