Refresh

We wanted to take some time to remind everyone about the Healthy Foods International Exposition and Conference, scheduled for June 18-19, 2008 in Dallas. Our print publication, Supermarket News, is a sponsor, along with another Penton Media division, New Hope Natural Media.

There’ll be regular updates on this page leading up to the show. Let’s start with the educational content. The cornerstone will be an exclusive, comprehensive study analyzing consumer buying habits, and the ways in which both manufacturers and food retailers can seek to meet the demands of wellness shoppers. These findings will be presented by the editors at Nutrition Business Journal during a three-part series of in-depth seminars during the show.

“This presentation will help you understand who the consumers of functional, organic and healthier-for-you-foods are, as well as attitudes concerning fresh and local products,” said Patrick Rea, NBJ’s publisher & editorial director. “The research will also detail how health, lifestyle and information sources play into purchasing decisions and more.”

Another highlight of the conference is the morning keynote session that details the conception and implementation of the Overall Nutritional Quality Index (ONQI), a single, unbiased reference point for every product and every category in the supermarket. The New Way to Shop for Health will be presented by ONQI’s developer, Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center and Jeff Posner of Topco Associates, the wholesale cooperative licensing the program.

Also on tap at Healthy Foods International are 10 educational breakout sessions that focus on the many challenges and opportunities in today’s wellness marketplace. Topics to be covered include kids nutrition, global retailing, ingredients, authenticity and credibility, healthy convenience, food safety, integration strategies and consumer attitudes.

Education offered at Healthy Foods International is free to all attendees and exhibitors. Best of all, qualified retailers, brokers, and distributors can register to attend the show for free before May 2, 2008; visit www.healthyfoodsintl.com/attend to register.

Experts estimate that last year’s Colony Collapse Disorder claimed nearly one third of all American beehives. Swiftly and mysteriously the tiny pollinators — normally very territorial — flew off, leaving behind empty homes and a swarm of questions.

Now there’s another, equally puzzling die-off that’s occurring in the Northeast. Thousands of bats have succumbed to what’s being called “white nose syndrome.” The name refers to the only visible symptom of the disease — a flaky white fungus that forms around the animal’s nose and mouth. Scientists don’t know much about the fast-spreading killer so far. What’s certain, however, is that it’s draining the bats’ winter fat storage before their hibernation period ends, causing them to starve to death.

This may not sound like news to supermarket operators, but it is. Like bees, bats help pollinate citrus fruits and other plants. They also feed on beetles, moths and other insects that can damage produce crops.

“Most bat researchers would agree that this is the gravest threat to bats they have ever seen,” said Alan Hicks, bat expert with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation.

The bee problem has yet to be resolved, as well. According to the American Beekeeping Federation, the colony collapse rate is similar to last year’s. Scientists have linked the phenomenon with the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, but it appears that’s not the only culprit; pesticides and global warming have also made the short list of possible reasons.

The science community is scrambling for answers, and manufacturers are trying to help. Burt’s Bees recently ran a public service announcement prior to screenings of “Bee Movie,” asking audiences to register on the company’s website for a free packet of wildflower seeds. And ice cream maker Haagen Dazs, which is owned by General Mills, recently awarded $250,000 to two research teams working to decode the bee deaths (25 out of its 60 flavors are made from bee-pollinated fruits and nuts).

Amidst the swirl of merchandising and logistics that retailers confront every day, it’s easy to forget that behind our food chain is a complex ecosystem. It’s still a mystery why bats and bees are dying, but that doesn’t mean companies shouldn’t take an active interest.

Manufacturers and retailers are really falling in love with the idea of nutrition guides. Everyone keeps coming out with their own versions. By the end of this year, consumers will be seeing a host of new programs in the aisles.

ConAgra Foods, unveiled its own initiative earlier this week, and is taking a slightly different approach to the issue. The manufacturer of such brands as Healthy Choice and Orville Redenbacher’s has devised a system based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s MyPyramid dietary guidelines.

The program, approved by the USDA, tells consumers just how much each product contributes to fulfilling the recommendations set by MyPyramid. In an example provided by the company, a Healthy Choice Fiesta Chicken meal that contains chicken, rice, fruit and vegetables will have a graphic (at the bottom of the image shown) indicating the product provides 15% of the grains, 30% of the vegetables, 15% of the fruit, and 40% of the meat and beans that a consumer should eat based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet. The labels will appear on more than 700 ConAgra-made products beginning in May, and include only those that offer at least a certain threshold amount of important nutrients. It’s quite an initiative, and will be a cornerstone of the company’s Start Making Choices umbrella program.

Freedom of choice is part of the American Way; in this case, consumers looking to improve their diets can choose from a growing number of nutrition guides. ConAgra’s new icons are one way to eat better, provided shoppers purchase those brands. Othe manufacturers like Kraft and PepsiCo have their own symbols and criteria. Retailers this year will have the opportunity to implement one of two universal programs that claim to cover every product in every category.

Call it too much, call it confusing. Let’s just hope consumers get the message.

Everyone talks about sustainability going mainstream. Well, it’s also going classical.

We’re talking about music; specifically, a recital by the eco-friendly Korean pianist, Soyeon Lee (even her name has a heart-healthy, syllabic ring to it). According to a report in The New York Times, Ms. Lee performed the second half of her show at Carnegie Hall wearing a dress made entirely of 6,000 recycled grape juice containers.

Take a look (and thanks to Dale Crowell at Honest Tea for sending this to us). I’m not one to deconstruct fashion, but it certainly makes a statement, considering the gown is made up of aseptic pouches popular with kids. In fact, it was during a tour of the Princeton University campus last summer, where a number of children’s day camps were being held, that she noticed the similar juice pouches overflowing from waste receptacles.

According to the article, Ms. Lee contacted TerraCycle, a firm the creates organic products that are not only made from waste, but are also packaged entirely in waste; as well as Honest Tea, which uses recycled packaging for its beverages as well. Both companies commissioned a designer to make the dress, and co-sponsored the concert.

Ms. Lee carried the theme one stanza further, and included recycled concertos in her repertoire. It just goes to show you, yet again, how creative people can be in getting the message across to consumers and the general public.

Sure, the health of our nation and the environment is serious business. But who says we can’t have fun trying to improve it?…. Encore!

More news on the animal welfare front.

Just last week, Safeway announced new guidelines for proteins, and today, Harris Teeter said it, too, would be adopting almost identical standards and give buying preference to suppliers who use humane poultry slaughter methods; forego the use of sow gestation crates; and farm cage-free eggs.

The move comes after representatives of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals stated their intention to speak out about the company’s lack of initiative at the company’s annual meeting tomorrow.

The policy changes will be phased in. Harris Teeter will increase its purchase of chickens killed by controlled-atmosphere slaughter systems by 5% over each of the next three years; increase the amount of pig meat that it purchases from suppliers that are phasing out gestation crates by 10% in 2009, 15% in 2010, and 20% in 2011; and increase the amount of cage-free eggs that it sells to 9% by 2009, and work toward increasing that amount to 12% in 2010. The eggs will be marketed as a new line of Harris Teeter-branded cage-free eggs.

The question becomes why are threats needed to get the industry to change? It’s as if retail executives need a captive-bolt stunner held to their heads before buying policies are updated. The most recent recall — the largest in U.S. history — resulted from an undercover video taken by the Humane Society of the United States. The disturbing footage of downer cattle being prodded with bang sticks and pushed with forklifts is well-publicized and was featured on news programs.

Safeway and Harris Teeter are just ahead of public opinion in changing their animal welfare guidelines. One look at images like that and we won’t need activists. The next voices we hear will be consumers themselves.

It’s no secret that the growing popularity of healthful and sustainable products has made corporations rethink their business plan. For many, the quickest way into the game has been to buy up promising natural and organic producers. Clorox’s purchase of Burt’s Bees is a recent example of this, as is Coke’s 40% investment in Honest Tea earlier this month.

At the same time, manufacturers are retooling their operations from within. Take Coke, for instance, which is increasingly gearing its infrastructure towards health and wellness. In addition to the Honest Tea deal, Coke is working to reduce packaging, running more energy-efficient refrigeration systems, and eventually going “water neutral” — meaning they want to give back as much water as their beverages require to make.

In addition to all this, earlier this week the manufacturer announced it had set a goal to recycle or reuse 100% of the aluminum cans it sells in America. This builds upon last year’s initiative to reuse 100% of the PET bottles produced by the company.

By the end of 2008, Coke hopes to have recycled “more than 100 million pounds each of PET and aluminum,” according to John Burgess, president and COO of Coca-Cola Recycling, an internal sustainability group formed last year by the company.

The commitment of Coke and others just goes to show the many ways the “whole” in whole health can be interpreted. There’s really no one right answer. The point here is that what started as a niche business has quickly evolved into a smarter, more cost-effective way of doing business.

The carbon offsetting industry has enjoyed unregulated growth over the past couple of years, but it appears the party may soon be over.

In that time, a number of offset providers have been exposed for fraudulent acts ranging from substituting credits, to failure to follow through on eco-projects. The lack of oversight allowed firms to take advantage of consumers and even entire companies who sought to participate in the movement with good intentions. Now that problems have been uncovered, action is being taken to quickly button up guidelines and best practices in order to save the image of offsets as a legitimate method of reducing the carbon footprint.

In November The Climate Group, a London-based nonprofit, established the Voluntary Carbon Offset Standard, meant to serve as a rulebook for the industry. Then last month the Federal Trade Commission held a hearing on the issue — its first in a series of hearings focused on green marketing.

Momentum is continuing to build. Yesterday the Center for Resource Solutions and its widely recognized Green-e label announced the first voluntary certification program for carbon offsets sold at the retail level. This new process follows an offset through its entire lifecycle, making sure it’s properly labeled and that it actually does, say, provide for the planting of trees in Brazil’s rainforests.

“Consumers are going to want transparency. They’re going to want to know where their money went,” said Jeff Swenerton, spokesman for the Center for Resource Solutions.

A certification like this serves mainly as a marketing tool, but that shouldn’t downplay its significance. Consumers want assurances that the credits they’re purchasing at their local supermarket are truly going where they want them to. As these certification guidelines hit the market, it might be time for all businesses to check their offset programs against the standards, to see how they measure up. This is one time you don’t want to get caught with your plants down.

So, is green the new red? That’s what we’re wondering as we look around at the various ways retailers are playing up Valentine’s Day 2008. Pesticide-free roses, fair trade chocolates, eco-wines and organic cotton lingerie are just a few of the offerings available to consumers this year.

The National Retail Federation, which tracks holiday activity, reports that people will spend about $123 on Valentine’s Day this year, with total sales topping $17 billion. More than 200 million roses are exchanged and 35 million boxes of chocolate are opened; wine is also a big seller. One look at this week’s circulars, anywhere in the country, and you know supermarkets get some of the credit for these transactions.

Valentine’s Day is an indulgent, romantic holiday. Many consumers are ready to spend (others think they better have). This willingness makes it much easier for retailers to push a big upsell to greener gifts, with their upscale image and better margins. Most manufacturers, processors and distributors already carry ‘better-for-you” options in just about every category, including floral, confectionary and alcohol.

Are supermarkets doing all they can to steer sales to more environmentally friendly choices? Consumers have exhibited a wide-ranging sensitivity to issues like sustainability. Phrases like fair trade and organic already resonate with them. The products are available. Retailers only need to play Cupid.

With enough commitment, creativity and technical know-how, a retailer’s website can open up new pathways to customer loyalty. Wegman’s has long understood this, populating its site with recipes, an impressive product database, a dietician’s blog, and more.

Now the Northeastern retailer has gone a step further by redesigning the site and adding several new features, including new recipes and an interactive shopping list tool that helps customers choose products and then track them down to the aisle level. On the wellness side, Wegman’s has added employee testimonials; store manager Joe, for example, writes about his journey to becoming a triathlete. There are also additional links and a clean new layout under the website’s “wellness” tab.

Far too many retailers do the bare minimum when it comes to developing their website. The slogans, logos and pictures are all there, and often presented in an attractive format. But consumers aren’t interested in learning about the company (no offense, retailers). They want what they can use, and wellness information is often just what they’re looking for.

There are limitations, however. People won’t go to a supermarket website to read the latest health news, or browse through an encyclopedia of medical terms. They’ll go there to find what they perceive as the supermarket’s area of expertise: food. That’s why smart online ideas include healthy and delicious recipes, dieting advice from in-store dieticians and nutrition facts about products.

Every consumer is asking the same question of the companies they find on the web: What can you do for me today? Wegman’s has provided answers, and so should other retailers.

Animal welfare continues to be an emerging segment of the food business, and it’s one supermarket retailers are right to invest in. Consumer interest and activist efforts to expose some of the darker secrets on the processing side can have a big impact on the sales end — particularly when there are protesters outside stores, amendments introduced at annual stockholders meetings and other public awareness stunts.

Resist all you want. One look at those undercover videos made by activists in slaughterhouses and consumers start demanding change. The images are shocking because everyone has become so far removed from the ugly, but necessary, act of slaughtering an animal for food. Consumers just see esoteric, overwrapped packages of red steaks and pale chicken breasts. They’ve forgotten about the bloody processing these animals go through to become case ready.

Safeway this week made the important decision to change its policies regarding food animals. The nation’s third-largest supermarket chain had been in ongoing talks with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Humane Society of the United States to adopt more animal-friendly sourcing rules.

There are three significant changes: The chain is “actively looking” for ways to increase purchases from poultry processors using “controlled atmosphere stunning” techniques (we’ll let the link explain that one); pork suppliers who do not use sow-confining gestation crates; and egg vendors who offer cage-free eggs. Safeway is already offering products based on these policies in some regions, with more to be added as the policy phase-in continues.

These are important initiatives, not only because it’s what consumers want, but it’s just a better way of doing business.