New Hope

Take a look at the warning letters posted on March 3 on the FDA website and you can see the FDA is getting serious about claims. This batch of warning letters focus on products not meeting the requirements for nutrient claims, and also those making disease (prevention) claims.

As 2010 begins, healthcare reform, childhood obesity, and food safety top the news on a daily basis; consumers – both young and old – are increasingly digital-friendly; concerns for natural resources such as fossil fuels and water are influencing innovation; the current economy has frugality on the consumer mind; and a booming diverse ethnic population is making indigenous ingredients a mainstay of the developing consumer palate. Emerging from all these diverse factors is an overall concern for health – a trifecta of personal health, fiscal health and environmental health – and a new consumer that represents this concern. These are the tenets of the new “triple-healthy” consumer:

Triple-Healthy drives demand. This is already being demonstrated in what products are being introduced into the market. Although recent Mintel research reports food and beverage product launches down nearly 30% in 2009, growth categories include areas that reflect the new triple-healthy paradigm: foods that offer both nutrition and value; sweeteners such as those derived from stevia; gluten-free; ethical; environmentally- friendly; and weight-control. These attributes will continue to resonate.

Exotic is the new norm. Ethnic ingredients and flavors found in Thai, Japanese, and South American cuisine are influencing product development and the taste preferences of the next generation. These geographic areas are also emerging as food and beverage manufacturing hubs. Frozen and aseptic packaging is reducing the need for sodium as a preservative. This and increasing legislation around sodium will reduce the artificial salt palate. Ethnic ingredients and flavors will replace salt satiety.

Scam claims and ingredients are suspect. Increasing regulation on marketing claims, diligence on the safety of ingredients and food manufacturing processes by the FDA and consumer groups, and a growing consumer savvy on what is truly healthy will continue to influence consumer suspicion. Artificial colors, BPA, and fake sweeteners will become obsolete.

Digital delivers. Mobile devices and applications, rural broadband initiatives, and the continued growth of digital social networks have consumers turning to their peers around the world to vet products, claims and services. Consumers will continue to make more of their purchases online – where they can instantly check-in with their social groups, use apps to ensure “triple-healthy” attributes, and find the best price.

Sustainability endures. “Resource-Neutral” will become a new business metric. Getting from point A to point B efficiently, without the use of fossil fuels, and with the least amount of environmental impact will inspire new materials that create lighter, more-efficient packaging, and that require less energy to transport.

Triple-Healthy consumers will continue to have expectations around the products they purchase and the companies who make them. Their expectations will influence everything from flavor, to packaging, to pricing, to business partners. And these forces will converge to bring about a paradigm shift in food and beverage manufacturing where triple-bottom line is replaced by triple-health.

Functional Ingredients magazine reports this evening on the Dietary Supplement Act of 2010 that was introduced today by Senator John McCain (R-AZ). The proposed bill could have far-reaching impact for manufacturers of supplements and the retailers that sell these products. Full coverage by FI can be found here.

Take a look at the sea of front-of-pack labels in your local grocery store and you’ll see a growing wave of labels rating the nutrition-value of products. And it’s not just manufacturer’s touting this info on their products. Major retailers like Hannaford have introduced nutrition labeling systems to address their customer’s desire for healthy eating and help them “get the most nutrition for the calories.”

When you start to dig-in to these front-of-pack labels take note at the lack of standardization across them — and what Parke Wilde from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University says has criteria that “seem arbitrary.” In a recent blog he offers three criteria for food scoring systems that include: rating food in a consistent manner, not basing the score on serving size, and rating nutrients independent of each other.

Consumers have already taken manufacturers to task for making “healthy” claims for products like Lucky Charms. And as they become more educated about what makes good nutrition, we can expect them to turn their scrutiny towards natural products and retailers, as well. The question for the natural products industry is how will we prepare for the coming scrutiny? Will we wait for government intervention? Or will we take the lead (similar to organic in the late 90’s) in setting a standard that will solve for consumer need and integrity?