Big Food: Stop the Crap
If there is one thing that most people seem to agree on is that they don’t like crappy food. It seems obvious to state that if food tastes bad it won’t make the cut. You don’t have to be a great cook to know when food tastes like crap. Yet, people eat crappy food all the time.
Over the last few years, consumers have really started to disrupt the food industry and this may have began just when food transcended from kitchen matters to Instagram matters. Food didn’t have to taste good, it just had to look good. This industry has been plagued with interim bursts of buzz just because of beautiful edible pieces.
New Food, Same Fad
There is always a new superfood, a new diet, a new miracle pill that gets all the attention.
Most recently, people have been talking about avocado toast, spirulina or the keto diet. I am calling these out as fads because of the way people are talking about them and making use of them. If you haven’t tried it yet, you are missing out, and when you do, you are already missing out on something else.
The keto diet has even become January’s weight loss solution. People are constantly trying to lose weight and it comes as no surprise as the World Health Organization is there to highlight that between 1975 and 2016, the number of obese people has nearly tripled (WHO, 2017). There are so many diets to choose from that we surely don’t need a new one. However, when obesity is such a concern that haunts people like a plague, we desperately need solutions.
Whatever is beautiful must be great. What is new must be better. Right?
Old Food, New Trend
When I say that consumers are really shaking up the industry is because people are finally taking crappy food for what it is. Crap. People are realizing that crappy food doesn’t taste good, nor it looks good, nor is it worth the buzz.
Companies such as Kraft, Chipotle and Pizza Hut have promised to reformulate their product recipes to eliminate artificial colors, flavors and additives (Bratskeir, 2015). That is what crappy food is made of.
We are a few years into this promise and we are still continuing to see more companies seeking healthier alternatives and consumers choosing to keep an eye on food labels. Chipotle, for instance, is keen on remarking on its website that they are committed to using “real ingredients”. Is this trend taking off because Big Food is concerned about people’s health? I am not so sure.
Healthier food choices are not necessarily “pocket friendly”. Consumers are paying for change. However, when it comes to large food manufacturers, it seems as if their shift to creating better products is always a monetary issue. Processed foods are subject to government regulations as they are increasingly linked to a higher risk of obesity (Scrinis, 2015). Are these companies caring about the consumer or are they caring about the fine?
For so many years, the emphasis has been placed on cost and comfort; but newer generations are interested in what they eat and where it comes from by bringing the power to the masses (Asioli et al., 2017). Consumers want authentic, nutritious and accessible food. The rise of organic food production indicates that “farm to table” may be where this trend is heading (Weinswig, 2016).
Big Food is aware and acting; but they are still sticking to making crappy food, less crappy. Can we stop the crap?
References
Asioli, D., Aschemann-Witzel,J., Caputo, V., Vecchio, R., Annunziata, A., Næs, T., Varela, P. (2017). Making sense of the “clean label” trends: A review of consumer food choice behavior and discussion of industry implications. Food Research International, 99:58–71. Retrieved January 26, 2018, from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0963996917303435
Bratskeir, K. (2015). 11 Food Companies Removing Artificial Colors And Flavors By 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2018, from http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/11-companies-that-plan-to-remove-artificial-flavors-before-2019_us_55b6a777e4b0074ba5a5d327
Daneshkhu, S. & Whipp, L. (2016). Big Food in health drive to keep market share. Retrieved January 26, 2018, from https://www.ft.com/content/83f05ea8-08a3-11e6-a623-b84d06a39ec2
Scott, C., Hawkins, B. and Knai, C. (2017) Food and beverage product reformulation as a corporate political strategy. Social Science & Medicine 172: 37–45. Retrieved January 26, 2018, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616306293#bib91
Scrinis, G. (2015). Big Food corporations and the nutritional marketing and regulation of processed foods. Retrieved January 26, 2018, from http://www.gyorgyscrinis.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Scrinis-Big-Food-Canadian-Journal-2015.pdf
Weinswig, D. (2016). Taking A Bite Out Of The Food Industry: Startups Change The Game. Retrieved January 26, 2018, from
WHO. (2017). Obesity and overweight. Retrieved January 26, 2018, from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en
