Many consumers these days are skeptical about the claims that manufacturers make regarding their products and a number of consumers are longing for more transparency in the market; people want to know what is going into the food that they are putting on their dinner table.
According to a recent Food Marketing Institute research report from this year, results indicate that US shoppers are looking for clear and honest transparency in product information; details that will assure them of the safety of the food.
The same survey also found that consumers view the grocery store that they frequent, their primary store, as an ally in their pursuit of overall wellness. So it makes sense that they increasingly want to be sure that they are being told honest information and that product manufacturers and retailers are being transparent and somewhat vulnerable in their pursuit of sales.
Consumers want accountability, fairness, quality, and to be able to obtain valuable and reliable information about the product in a reasonable amount of time. The companies out in the market that can meet these needs and cater to what the customer wants, are going to be the ones that excel.
A variety of different initiatives have been used to try and assist consumers in their journey of selecting what products are right for them.
Some options have been things like using certain food label certification programs to ensure quality ingredients were used. Another has been the introduction of a variety of apps that can be used to scan the bar code on the product, revealing a host of details about the manufacturer, ingredients, and more.
Consumers want to know where their food is coming from not only in the US but around the world and food producers need to be aware of this or they will be left behind.
A recent national survey found that 67 percent of consumers want to know the nutritional profile of every dish that they are consuming when they go out to eat. And if they cannot readily find out what is in the dish, then they likely aren't going to trust it. It's clear that consumers want to know what's in it and where it came from.
According to a report from back in 2015, it's estimated that only 38 percent of consumers in the US trust what companies have to say about their products on the food label.
When it comes to trying to convince the consumers of the need to purchase the product, selling points like “made with natural ingredients” and “made naturally” might not cut it with many. These sorts of selling terms saturate the market today and because of this they've earned themselves a lot of scrutiny.
To those food producers and companies that are able to effectively demonstrate a forthcoming transparency in educating their consumers on what their product contains and where it comes from etc, the better they are going to do in the market.
We can see that a number of fast food restaurants are trying to take this approach, making commercials and other marketing advertisements about where their eggs, meat, and other products come from.
For any higher cost involved with transparency in food production, and using better quality ingredients etc, consumers are willing to pay it.
This is evident by the fact that many consumers are willing to pay a premium for things like grass-fed beef, butter, pasture raised eggs and so on, because they believe the product is a higher quality product. According to 2015 data from Nielsen, about 66 percent of consumers would be willing to pay more for products that are made with organic ingredients or made using sustainable methods.
Trust can be built through transparency and many product makers would do well to take note of this and to embrace honesty about their products with consumers.
Pics:
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Sources:
http://www.supermarketnews.com/consumer-trends/shoppers-want-transparency-fmi-trends-report-reveals
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/video/research-indicates-consumers-want-transparency-food-labeling
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Manufacturers/Fishpeople-wants-to-fix-the-fundamentally-broken-seafood-industry
https://www.thecaterer.com/articles/505394/two-thirds-of-consumers-want-menu-nutritional-information
https://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/articles/2017/06/three-steps-to-achieve-transparency-in-beverages.aspx
I'm very glad to see that this is the direction U.S. consumers overall are moving in. It's so important to know what goes into our food. And without that, how can we ever be in control of our health and our bodies. We've spent too many years in the dark on this, and I'm so glad that overall there's more of a tendency now to actually look at ingredients, and know what's in our food. Especially as more than ever, in the last 10 years, big corporations like Monsantos are proving time and time again that they do NOT have our best interests at heart. Great post!
I was watching a documentary where the way foods label Sugar is often hidden like corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, fruit juice concentrates, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, invert sugar, lactose, maltose, malt syrup, raw sugar, sucrose, sugar syrup, cane crystals, cane sugar, crystalline fructose, evaporated cane juice, corn syrup solids, malt syrup. Apparently the food industry gets away with this is because of lobbying and it looks like it wont be changed anytime soon.
It's great that consumers are better informed and educated now, and seeking for confirmation and answers. Documentaries like the one you watched help to shed light on the practices of the big food industry players, and at least empowers the consumer to make wise choices.
I've always been a label reader for food products and toiletries. Knowing the code words and numbers (for the flavorings and enhancers) really helps to decipher what the hell is printed on the ingredient list.
Thanks for this comprehensive post that set off a lot of important thought processes, @doitvoluntarily :)
Yeah i didn't even know sweeteners could be flavoured sugar :) Thanks for your comment
You mean comment? ;)
Yes sorry, never checked name against who wrote the original article
Good post. The reality is that consumers are smarter and more health consious and thus with the help of smart technologies do their own due dilligence via their mobile device. This is good because it will make big food chains to improve on quality of foods and even lives of the poor farmers. Thanks for sharing.
definitely following you...love your blog and your posts. What you put in your body is so important. I always remember a trainer telling me to treat your body like it was Lamborghini. You don't put 87 gasoline in a lambo, and you're constantly giving it the best stuff to run efficiently. Love that analogy. Thanks for the post!
Great post! I believe this is why many people are buying local as well! I try to do that myself as often as possible. Our Winn Dixie sells beef from Mexico and other countries but it isn't even labeled that way. The butcher said you have to specifically look for a label stating it was grown in the USA. It is also angering that we have no idea what foods are GMO! Our food is much more toxic than most other countries.
is IMPORTANT
I try and buy as much of my food locally as I can. there is a great farm shop which does loads of fresh produce, which I try and get the majority of our food from. I am really careful with all other products but is can be difficult shopping insupermarkets etc.
I use to pay more for grass fed beef when it came from a cattle farm I lived nearby. The beef was amazing. The stuff the you get from the grocery store can't compare. Knowing where my food comes from is very important. Seafood is something I always check the location of. When the BP oil spill happened in 2010 in the gulf there was no way I bought gulf caught shrimp for years.
that BP and fukushima is always on my mind with the seafood lol
Very important point @doitvoluntarily - the consumer is much better informed nowadays thanks to the Internet. Thus, apps which aim to make this ultra-conscious consumer EVEN MORE informed will easily beat out the competition.
It would be especially interesting to build a machine learning app that takes into account user preferences and choices to recommend not only related food products (like the Instacart mobile app) but also the most nutritious choices available. A sort of "healthier food recommendation engine"! Let's see Costco and Whole Foods compete with that! ;)
Wow, what an in depth look. First thing, the ingredient verification apps look really cool and could be highly effective if done right I imagine. I've never seen those.
I do think you nailed one point!!! I agree the grocery store that can provide the most accurate data to consumers about their food, they will win.
I wonder how Amazon Fresh is going to mix into this debate now buying Whole Foods?
I'm actually surprised 38% of consumers believe what the companies have to say. Honestly, I would have thought that it was actually less than that! I'm one of those people that wants to know every last detail about my food. I typically try to track what I eat and that is another reason for wanting to know.
I think in the end I am one of those people that would pay a bit extra for better quality food and to know where it is coming from.
Great blog post. Yeah, its important to read the label where the food comes from. I have stopped eating tuna originating from the Pacific Ocean after watching this video from Anonymous Official (its about the Fukushima Nuclear Plant):
I live in Bulgaria and most of the food here is home grown and made.
But rescently more and more gmo food his hitting the market here and the difference between home grown and gmo is amazingly huge.
Hopefully better foods hit the market, ones that don't taste like plastic and chemicals.
Cheers and muc. Love
-Goldie
It's always the problem with money. Good food which isn't processed in masses, but with love and passion is way more expensive. If we take chickens as example. Mass production is going to get the meat injected with antibiotics, while chickens living on a farm take way more money and are therefor more costful for the end user.
why it's nice to see consumers trying to vote with their dollars for increasingly better products & methods. And vertical farming/hydroponic methods etc are really exciting in that they sure can compete with factory farming as far as commercial scale mass production :)
great point
... and there are actually human beings that think chocolate milk comes from brown cows. People are a mixed bag eh?
brown cows? lol
If you had any idea how seriously I wish I was joking about that.
I've read that about this as well. It was shockingly high number of people who thought that -_-
i was having difficulty detecting sarcasm.. wasn't sure
https://www.peta.org/blog/american-adults-think-chocolate-milk-comes-from-brown-cows/
Some believe milka commercials and believe strawberry milk comes from pink cows. IQ division is a funny thing
In this world with so much fake 'things, people, thinking' it is nearly impossible to achieve...
Though I hope for the best :)
When it comes to McDonald's, I simply do not want to know what is in it. All I know is its probably terrible, however in the same breath it is so damn good.
lol!! good point
What animal is this sandwich made out of ?... " It no longer exists"....
Buy local! Farmers Markets are amazing and most of the time you get to actually meet the source of your food!
I know thats so crazy. Now days its lile they just slap thw word organic on it and now its good for you.
It is natural that consumers want to know about it.
Let alone concerning food.
thank you for sharring.@doitvoluntarily..
Pretty bummed the frozen package of "Alaskan Halibut" ive been buying I read something about fish farms in china and how they have different regulations. I was checking packages and I just so happen to grab my "Alaskan Halibut" and checked that too. Says "Caught in China" on the back. That's not Alaskan.
i got pretty bummed when I saw a news segment a couple of weeks ago that sent fish samples from a number of markets in for independent testing and a lot of the fish was wrongly marketed as wild when in fact it was farmed, and in some cases it was an entirely different breed of fish altogether marketed as something else lol :/ so that was really eye-opening..
Yeah what they are doing is not "good" at some farms in china They raise chickens also and put chicken wire over the water where the fish live so the droppings go into the water and feed the fish. That might not be so bad but they give the chickens antibiotics as well as the fish.
There are farms doing questionable things all around the US as well, and throughout a number of nations, not just in china. I think if consumers had transparency and were shown videos of conditions of the places where a lot of the products come from, i think they would make different choices.
Well that's true. That is why I only buy grass fed beef and pork from my local butcher when I feel like eating meat. Store bought food is a nightmare now that I've done some reading on it. A lot of people don't want to know.
i usually get my grass fed beef from the market but ive been looking around for local farms and one i might try soon sells it in bulk, would be a few months worth but def worth it i think
I can taste the difference dramatically. I'm the person at the party that asks where they bought the beef now and usually passes on it.
great info, thanks for ur efforts !!
good one
If you're shopping for food also consider my tips on health safety :)
https://steemit.com/food/@jills/shop-like-a-food-safety-expert
As consumers, we want products that are safe for us and transparency from producers will be appreciated. In our day to day lives, we don't always have the time to check for background information on products before buying so we place trust on the stores.
I've seen a betrayal of this trust in an African country once. One manager of a retail store acquired expired goods from a relative and then people bought them. It was not until one customer noticed the poor quality and reported it, that the corruption was unearthed. He had been doing it for months by then.
good post...
😤😡 Only 38% trust the companies about their food? Im quite in shock its that many and well to a certain point you have to trust them. Basically we know they are not lying in the core normally, but there are a lot of nasty surprises. When i buy chicken, i only buy organic and recently found out, that the organic farms have the facilities to brand their meat as organic, but are not forced to use them. So the grass outside is as green as it could be. No chicken is going outside. That farm used electric fences in the area where they could get outside. So the chickens prefer staying inside, which is more costefficient, since these organic farms are fully automated and workforce is expensive. So now the question is. Do you really want good food or do you just want your conscience to be pleased for ethical reasons and not dig too deep?
This must be controlled and regulated by food and safety standard agencies or department. And the norms must be followed strictly.
There is Nutrition education and labelling act and it enforce companies to list all ingredients on package of food. Also they have to use only FDA approved ingredients.
You can ask or check if a food company is BRC certified. If tjey are BRC certified then you can get all the traceability of product ingredients.
"Consumers want accountability, fairness, quality, and to be able to obtain valuable and reliable information about the product in a reasonable amount of time. The companies out in the market that can meet these needs and cater to what the customer wants, are going to be the ones that excel." Words of wisdom and gold. 💜 Thank you!
In no way do I trust a manufacturer's claim about the quality of their food. Since their ultimate goal is profitability, they will lie, mislead, and cut corners to keep costs down and maximize their bottom line. I see McDonald's (I have an explicit and vulgar name I call them) now claims to use cage-free eggs and 100 percent natural beef. What a joke. Who knows what toxins these companies are allowing us to eat. I think home-grown fruits, vegetables, and meats are the way to go. Unfortunately, little of us have the resources or time to raise our own food.
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Didn't think about it before. I was always buying high quality groceries.
Or maybe i was wrong about their quality all along... until that moment??
Ta-ta-taaaaaaaaam
What an excellent post again!
The blockchain application to the supply chain is getting more real each day.
Yes, true, I love a good man. Thank you brother