A report published just this week in the medical journal Pediatrics concludes that special diets are not effective in treating digestive problems in children with autism.
Try telling that to all the parents and caretakers who swear that modifying the diet of an autistic child can reduce or even eliminate behavior outbursts that many believe are caused by painful digestive upsets.
Among the top suspects on the list is gluten. According to Packaged Facts, supermarkets have quickly become one of the biggest channels for moving gluten-free products. Sales are expected to grow by double digits and hit $2.6 billion by 2012. At the trade shows I attend, there’s an ever-expanding list of gluten-free foods ready for market (prompting some to ask whether there’s a gluten-free “bubble” about to burst), and some retailers are highlighting gluten-free foods to differentiate themselves from competitors.
“This is really a growing, large population, and they’re a tight-knit group,” is how one dietitian we spoke with characterized gluten-free shoppers.
According to an Associated Press report, one in 5 autistic kids is currently on a special diet in which gluten and casein (a dairy protein) are eliminated. Another statistic: an estimated one in 110 children in the United States is classified as autistic. more…
By now your New Year’s marketing plans are well established, and I expect many retailers will be highlighting produce and wellness products early this month, capturing attention from all those folks who resolved—once again—to eat better this year.
But good intentions don’t have to end in January. Extend the New Year’s season into February and March with an ongoing ‘Remember Your Resolutions’ campaign.
Set up sampling tables by the carrots and broccoli—highlighting healthy salad dressings. Or, feature simple recipes (like Asian coleslaw or glazed carrots) that use pre-cut veggie packs.
Make the campaign educational with side-by-side taste tests of different citrus fruits available this time of year. You could also help customers get a little adventurous with demonstrations on how to seed a pomegranate or eat a star fruit.
For another promotion, demonstrate what five servings of fruits and vegetables looks like lumped together. Pull in products from the fresh, frozen, canned and beverage aisles to show the multitude of options that meet those servings goals. (Visit the CDC’s new fruit and veggie site for updated serving guidelines and ideas.)
In our Mambo Sprouts 2010 MamboTrack outlook survey, 53% of consumers said that they would place a priority on purchasing organic children’s food products in 2010. So to really pack a powerful punch, market these tasting/educational weekends as kid-friendly events. Give kids a punch card to mark off every healthy item they try and offer prizes for children who meet certain tasting goals.
After all, healthy eating is a family affair.
(Photo credit: ProBuild Garden Center, Santa Cruz, Calif.)
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack paid a visit to Hy-Vee in Des Moines, Iowa this week to talk a bit about healthy eating and that topic that seems to be on everyone’s mind these days — nutrition labeling.
The point of reference here was the NuVal system Hy-Vee uses, which ranks food on a 100-point scale, with higher numbers indicating more nutritious choices. It’s definitely one of the easier-to-understand programs out there, and Vilsack, having strolled the aisles with Hy-Vee CEO Ric Jurgens checking out products (Frosted Mini Wheats, Mr. Secretary?), seems to agree. He praised NuVal and seemed — maybe? — to hint at the need for further label reform.
“If you take a look at a label — unless you’re a dietician or a chemist or a doctor — it’s really hard to determine between two products which is the best product for you and your family,” Vilsack said during a news conference at the store.
Amen to that. But if the secretary and the industry hopes to send a message about the need for clarity in nutrition labeling, they should be aware of what critics say about industry-led programs. According to them, the proliferation of different systems, each operating under different criteria, has only created further confusion. NuVal is different from Supervalu’s Nutrition IQ is different from Hannaford’s Guiding Stars, and so on. In one store you’ve got numbers, the other you’re reading the stars. more…
‘Twas two days before Christmas,
and all through the stores,
an acquisition was brewing,
that the principals promised
will open new doors….
OK, I’m not Clement Clarke Moore, but it seems an appropriate way to announce the news this morning that Kehe Food Distributors has acquired Tree of Life from Royal Wessanen nv.
The agreement, worth $190 million cash, includes Tree of Life U.S., based in St. Augustine, Fla., and Tree of Life Canada, which operates out of Calgary, Alberta. An early 2010 closing date is expected.
The development itself isn’t a total surprise. Earlier this year, Wessanen officials said they were going to start shopping their North American holdings in order to realign their portfolio and return to a Euro-centric business model. Wessanen, headquartered in the Netherlands, purchased Tree of Life in December of 1985 when it launched a push into the natural/organics business.
Tree of Life currently operates 10 distribution centers in the United States and three in Canada. Kehe, based in Romeoville, Ill., is a leading distributor of specialty, gourmet and ethnic products to retail grocery stores of all sizes in all 50 states, as well as Mexico and the Caribbean. more…
Some events just happen — whether we’re ready or not — and the arrival of the New Year is one of them. Gift giving is still a very big part of the holiday season, either as host/hostess gifts or for that person that somehow missed your first go-round.
Soul-searching is also there as we ponder the old year and contemplate our goals for the new one. So here are some ideas that might add some strength to our customers making resolutions on the wellness path!
• Think wellness for those last-minute or hostess gifts. There are gift baskets with assortments of natural soaps, lotions and other health and beauty products. Teas, coffees and beverages bundled with some whole grain crackers or granola set the stage for a healthier new year. For the person with a special diet, an assortment of gluten-free pasta and sauce, baking mixes or ready-to-eat goodies are welcomed. Assemble some herb and spice assortments and other lower-sodium flavor-adders with the theme to update your spice rack lower your salt intake! more…
More than 1.5 billion Americans visited food web sites this year. It’s a tremendous number, with huge implications for the food industry. The statistic, from a poll conducted by our friends at Allrecipes.com, notes that these consumers went through 11 billion pages of food-focused content — everything from recipes to discussion boards to coupon offers.
While that’s an impressive (even intimidating) number, the real hook for retailers comes from another stat. The Allrecipes.com survey found that 43% of home cooks with smart phones “used the device while grocery shopping to look up recipes, create grocery lists, conduct price comparisons and look up coupons.” We’ve reported on retailers that have implemented pretty extensive online coupon programs to take advantage of this trend.
To get a glimpse of the extent of consumer use, Allrecipes determined that page views of its site from a mobile device increased five times the rate of other devices — desktop, laptop and the like — in the past 16 months. In November alone, Allrecipes,com received more than 1 million visits from mobile devices. That’s a lot of people on the move, who still need and want access to information and offers.
Against this rose-pixeled picture, however, we have another report indicating that the industry itself has lagged in applying many consumer-friendly concepts to B-to-B applications, frustrating clients and trade customers. Technomic Inc., which tracks foodservice and restaurants, found wide-ranging complaints within the industry centered on the lack of specific product information, organization and assistance on a majority of vendor websites. more…
It’s good to give credit where credit’s due. And as we come to the end of this unsettling year, it’s nice to know there’s a retailer getting recognized for what’s arguably the most important achievement of all: healthy, happy employees.
In a press release out this week, Meijer announced that it had received three separate awards touting its employee wellness efforts. There’s the “Fit Friendly Company” designation from the American Heart Association, the “Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles” recognition from the National Business Group on Health, and the “Most Effective Plan Implementation” for its health care plan, awarded by Consumer Directed Health Care Solutions Magazine.
Whew. That’s quite a list, and it relects Meijer’s decision to focus on employee wellness and stick with it, even through trying times. In addition to its highly touted benefits package, the company offers the day-to-day perks that make a difference over time, like swapping healthier food into its vending machines and the “Wellness Wednesdays” promotion at its corporate office that encourages employees to get out and take a walk during the work day.
We’re not surprised at the accolades. Two years ago, we gave Meijer our own award — the “Whole Health Enterprise Award”. In his cover story, my colleague Bob credited the company for its savvy, sensible approach to health and wellness.
Doesn’t look like much has changed.
Food companies have tried their hand at making voluntary changes to the way they market many of their products to children. Now, it looks like regulators are ready to take the reins.
Earlier this week, a working group that included officials from the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and several other federal agencies met in Washington to propose standards for how manufacturers market to kids. According to the group, foods marketed to children “must provide a meaningful contribution to a healthy diet” and should contain limited amounts of sugar, sodium and saturated fat.
Although these standards would be voluntary, they still represent a big step. Indeed, it would be the first time the government has asserted itself in the realm of children’s advertising.
Retailers and manufacturers aren’t too happy with government involvement, especially since, to them, progress has been made. Back in 2006 a group of companies came together and formed the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. The group assured everyone that they would promote more healthful items and cut back on promoting unhealthful ones. And a report from the Better Business Bureau, the third party organization that’s monitoring the program, says the companies are living up to their promises, having reduced, for example, the amount of sodium in “many soups and canned pastas” by 20% and 30%.
But the coalition’s yardstick doesn’t seem to be what regulators are interested in. Another report from researchers at the University of Arizona asserts that the majority of advertisements from companies in the coalition were, after three years, still for “nutritionally poor” products. Healthy foods, meanwhile, made up less than 1% of all ads. more…
Are you seeing higher prices with every trek to your local market, or is it just me who has noticed prices creeping up over the past year on the “staple” items that I purchase on a regular basis?
I was able to justify these price increases last year when the economy was totally in the tank and the cost to fill my car tank made me shudder in disgust, but fuel prices have come down nearly a dollar since last year, so why hasn’t our food pricing followed the same trend?
Even many of the discount chains are trying to squeeze blood out of turnips by incrementally raising retails, thinking that their savvy customers might not notice. I learned from the master long ago that customers are smart and have a long memory. Now multiply that thought by all of us folks who are doing our best to get by and save money any which way we can: We are on the lookout to save a buck and actually remember the price we paid for a certain item was a year ago.
Case in point: A few weeks back I needed more of my natural liquid dishwashing soap, so I bought a bottle. When I got home to put it away, I noticed that the nearly finished bottle under the sink was marked $2.49 for 25 ounces, and this same size new bottle had cost me $2.99 — that’s a whopping retail increase from one shopping excursion to the next! more…
You don’t have to tell this analog guy farming is tough. I read Grape of Wrath; I watched Green Acres (how anyone could run a successful farm with Hank Kimball is beyond me). That’s why it’s fascinating to learn that Zynga’s virtual FarmVille game on Facebook currently has more than 72 million players tilling the online soil.
I mean, in a digital world where you can play games that pit you against the Mob, space aliens and even terrorists, how could much fun could harvesting make-believe strawberries be?
The answer is plenty, if the latest numbers are correct. According to various sources, FarmVille has become the most popular game application on Facebook. Players purchase land, seeds and equipment, maintain the farm and are responsible for getting crops harvested before they start to wither and die. In some ways, “playing” farmer is just as real as a flesh-and-blood farmer. There are pests to deal with, neighbors to help and crops to harvest. Each fruit and vegetable only stays fresh for a set amount of time before it starts to go bad, so participation requires vigilance and good timing.
The game is two-dimensional, but an awareness campaign launched very recently by the Animal Agriculture Alliance is helping to make farming very real. The group has released a video that depicts what it’s really like helping to feed the masses. more…
