Food Trends [4.25.09]

My gut (no pun intended) tells me that we’re really close to a major shift in how America eats...

Hearing news about food is nothing new.  As long as I can remember, we’ve been bombarded by concerns, claims, and fads.  But lately, it seems like we’re waking up to that ingredient list right below all the numeric gibberish about fat and protein grams.  It is no longer enough for a food to be low-fat - people want to know what makes it low fat.  And is what makes it low fat good for us? 

Witness the following:

• Haagen-Dasz has a new line of ice creams named “5.”  Five ingredients and that is it.  I checked the original chocolate flavor and it has six.  But it is nice to know HD is taking something out of the mix.

• There are TV ads now for high-fructose corn syrup touting that it’s made from corn, all natural, and just like sugar, fine in moderation.  The Corn Refiners’ Association has woken up but will American consumers buy it?

• Yet what has gotten my attention the most is former FDA Commissioner David Kessler’s new book, The End of Overeating.  His argument is simple and profound - food manufacturers and restaurants especially are knowingly “drugging” consumers with an addictive mix of fat, salt, and sugar.  Each ingredient causes one to crave more of it and put together, they drive people to eat even when they know they should not.

Does this sound familiar?  It should.  Kessler is the same guy who helped plunge tobacco companies deeper into the “nicotine is a drug and we know it” abyss.

If food companies do not wake up to this shift, they could be in for a rude awakening of declining market share.  As the announcement says in the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport subway, “This train is departing.  Please hold on.”  It’s time to get on board.