September 19, 2003 Recent News
What, where and when Americans eat: 2003
Better-for-you snack sales are healthy, study shows
USDA proposes new intake patterns for Food Guide Pyramid
The next great battle against obesity: R&D trends
New proposal to help prevent childhood obesity
What, where and when Americans eat: 2003
A State of the Industry report by Sloan Trends & Solutions, Inc. provides an in-depth look at the US food industry and identifies the top ten trends in 2003. While in-home meals have increased considerably over the past year, the main trends found were in convenience, bold flavors and better nutrition. The top trends are: convenience, more meat, innovative dairy products, ethnic foods, one-hand dining, dinner and lunch occasions, beverages, snacks (both salty and sweet), fruits and vegetables, and cooking oils and condiments.
(Extracted from Food Technology 8/1/03)
Better-for-you snack sales are healthy, study shows
In a Mintel survey, US respondents ate an average of 7.4 healthy snacks a week, and 25% of those snacked 10 or more times a week, with an average of over twice a day. Among healthy snacks, the most popular were low fat (24%), followed by all natural (21%), low-cholesterol (14%), vitamin and mineral fortified (9%), no additives or preservatives (7%), low sodium (6%) and added fiber (5%). Sales of healthy snacks are expected to be up 41% this year over 1998, to $5.5 billion. Makers of healthy snacks target two consumer groups: those who are overweight and those with good diets who are making choices to benefit health and weight control.
(Extracted from Supermarket News, 8/25/03)
USDA proposes new intake patterns for Food Guide Pyramid
The USDA published its proposal to renovate the Food Guide Pyramid in the September 11 Federal Register. It sets calorie recommendations based on age, sex and activity level and unlike the previous pyramid (based on three caloric levels), will describe what people at 12 different calorie levels (from 1,000 to 3,200 calories a day) would need to eat. It incorporates the Institute of Medicine's recently updated Dietary Reference Intakes and for the first time sets target calorie levels based on inactive or sedentary people rather than active ones. In this first phase, the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) does not care about how the eating patterns would be shown on a graphic. It is seeking comments on such things as whether using sedentary people is a good standard, the appropriateness of goals for total fiber and Vitamin E and whether the "serving size" term should be replaced with "cups" and "ounces." CNPP hopes greater individualizing of recommendations will promote behavior changes. The basic eating premise is the same as before for fat and saturated fat intake, cholesterol intake should be limited to 300 milligrams, sodium to no more than 2,400 milligrams, and sugar is allowed as long as its consumption does not exceed total caloric intake. The CNPP says it will follow recommendations to discourage eating trans fatty acids, found in many baked and fried foods and will instead encourage consumption of foods high in omega-3 fats, such as fish.
(Extracted from Food Chemical News Daily 9/12/03)
The next great battle against obesity: R&D trends
In this op-ed piece, Daniel Best writes that regulatory and social adversity tend to feed the flames of creativity and predicts that the food industry's concerns over litigation involving its food offerings will lead, as in the past, to greater opportunities. He notes that the concern about obesity in the 1990s, shortly after passage of the Nutrition Labeling & Education Act, which forced food makers to tell consumers about fat and calorie content, led to a realization that the companies could make more expensive, value-added products by claiming lower fat and lower calories. In many cases, the technology is available to reduce calories and make food healthier, but it is expensive. Best predicts that numerous companies will follow Kraft's initiative and offer smaller portions, healthier products and higher prices. It will create a wave of product development that will be good for food ingredient makers and force them to new and greater innovation. He also predicts that while some people will take to the new fat- and calorie-reduced products, most people will continue to eat what they like to eat, and American consumers will continue to gain weight because of lifestyle choices, not because of food offerings.
(Extracted from Stagnito's New Product Magazine, 7/1/2003)
New proposal to help prevent childhood obesity
In the US, the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued new proposals to help prevent and identify obesity in children. A policy statement in its Pediatrics journal recommended, among other things, identification and tracking of patients at risk because of hereditary or environmental factors, annual determination of body mass index, routine promoting of physical activity and recommending the limiting TV and video time to a maximum of two hours a day.
(Extracted from Food Chemical News Daily, 8/11/03)
