You might say the shift to healthy eating is a ‘slow-motion avalanche’. The long view is, the evolution away from the western world’s traditional junk food-dominated diet is now more a norm than a trend. So says a new multinational survey…
The survey results, released late last month, clearly indicate that folks in general are giving a healthy diet priority in spite of the negative impact of high food prices…
Broadly based
The Health, Nutrition and Rising Costs report survey, by Fonterra, polled 2,500 carefully selected folks from China, Japan, South Korea, the U.K. and the US on their relationship with food.
Across that widely varying swathe of cultures, most folks were surprisingly united in their responses.
Inciteful analysis
Industry analysis firm Food Dive, “provides in-depth journalism and insight into the most impactful news and trends shaping the food industry. The newsletters and website cover topics such as manu-facturing, packaging, ingredients, R&D, flavor trends, and more.”
And Food Dive has offered a convenient digest of the survey’s main findings.
Key points…
- Despite the increasing price of health and well-being products, consumers prioritize their wellness. Some 67 percent consider it a top priority.
- Almost 60 Percent of consumers cited health and wellness-related issues as a top concern in 2023, the report said, which is a significant increase from 55 percent in 2021.
- And 62 percent of consumers said that their confidence in how ‘better-for-you’ a food product is hinges on scientific evidence and the efficacy of the ingredients.
- The Health, Nutrition and Rising Costs report provides food manufacturers with, “a massive oppor-tunity to tap onto this demand by staying tuned to rapidly evolving consumer preferences in the current market,” Kormal Mistry-Mehta, chief innovation and Brand Officer at Fronterra said in a statement.
Will the industry take the hint?
My food-oriented Spidey Sense (and I’m not talking about flies, here) tells me the food industry will take very serious notice of what the survey has to say. It’s entirely to the corporations’ advantage to ‘give the people what they want’.
But there will remain the factors that food processor and other players can’t control: Such as global economic pressures, climate change, and sustainability considerations.
My take
The good news, of course, is that folks are focusing on their health, in spite of high food prices. That sounds like a small thing – but I assure you, it’s the start of something really big for society and the world as a whole.
But it’s also clear that the market is leading the industry on the health and wellness priority shift. I hope the producers, manufacturers and processors can catch up at least to the point where they can walk hand-in-hand with consumers. Otherwise, the industry will be rendered reactive rather than innovative. And consumers will become increasingly annoyed and impatient…
~ Maggie J.