Messages Lost on Consumers -- Food Must Tell the Story

Newswise — Consumers don't just need nutrition information, they need nutrition motivation. And it's the job of the food industry to provide it, according to Cal Dooley, president of the Food Products Association, speaking here today at the Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting. As head of the trade association representing food and beverage companies worldwide, Dooley stressed that the new U.S. dietary guidelines provide important direction for helping motivate the general public, for the first time giving specific recommendations on physical activity. "The guidelines' message emphasizes what consumers can do," Dooley said, as opposed to categorizing a food either good or bad, "which simply doesn't work," he added.

"Messages such as 'calories count' motivate people to adapt their behavior." He praised the efforts of a number of companies that have used their products' packaging as an educational tool, citing a popular brand of reformulated cheese puffs and its back panel that compares fat and calorie content to the original version. Dooley highlighted a baby food company's investment in consumer research reporting that the top vegetable eaten by 15-month-old toddlers was French fried potatoes. By age of two, nearly 30 percent of toddlers eat French fries everyday, he said. "Gerber and others are stepping up to provide information for parents so they make better choices," he said. "The company found that a lot of eating patterns are developed in the first two years of life, so parents of infants and toddlers need better information on what they should do." Sylvia Rowe, president of the International Food Information Council, echoed Dooley that consumers are struggling to motivate themselves to eat healthier.

"Consumers don't trust a single source or authority as being able to pull together the nutrition information they are receiving from multiple sources," she said. "Consumers need guidance and positive motivation, which is different than information." What they need most, she said, was practical suggestions that fit into competing lifestyle demands. "By promoting information on the front panel, combined with the nutritional panel, we are allowing consumers to make the best possible decisions," Dooley says. "Our ultimate objective is that when the consumers leave the supermarket, their shopping carts are filled with a vast array of products that together will make up a healthy diet."

The IFT Annual Meeting + Food Expo®, running now through July 20, is the world's single largest annual scientific meeting and technical exposition of its kind. Rated among the largest shows in America*, the meeting delivers comprehensive, cutting-edge research and opinion from food science-, technology-, marketing- and business-leaders.

More information on each conference is available online at http://www.am-fe.ift.org.

* According to Tradeshow Week® 200 magazine.

Founded in 1939, and with world headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, USA, the Institute of Food Technologists is a not-for-profit international scientific society with 26,000 members working in food science, technology and related professions in industry, academia and government. As the society for food science and technology, IFT brings sound science to the public discussion of food issues. For more on IFT, see www.ift.org.