A Winning Proposition for the Food Industry
I read an interesting post the other day on the Institute of Food Technologists blog, The ePerspective. It's by Hank Cardello, CEO of 27° North, which is a consulting firm that helps companies marry profit and social responsibility. For more than 30 years, Cardello was an executive at large food and beverage companies such as Coca-Cola and General Mills. Today, he chairs the annual Global Obesity Business Forum, sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In the IFT blog as well as in another posting on The Atlantic's site, Cardello makes the case for why it is good business - not a losing proposition - for food companies to lower the calories, salt, sugar, fat, etc., in their products.
In a free market economy, you can't blame a company for trying to make money. And although the obesity issue is mired in a murky soup of legality v. ethics, intention v. blowback and expediency v. genuineness, Cardello maintains we can in fact have it all - healthier food and a healthy bottom line.
As you have probably heard, industry supporters of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation have pledged to sell 1.5 trillion fewer calories in the next five years. Cardello asks, "Is a 1.5 trillion calorie reduction over five years enough to make a difference?" In fact, he says, although it's a commendable good start, it's only a "drop in the bucket," representing just a 0.5% reduction in the 300 trillion calories available for Americans to consume each year. That translates to less than 1.5 pounds of added weight per person.
Cardello observes that daily calories supplied are up 30% per person since 1970; returning to the "pre-obesity" level requires a discharge of 69 trillion calories. "It's time to be bold. REALLY BOLD. 'Put a man on the moon' bold," Cardello says.
Food marketers could well be the best SOLUTION to the problem. Yes, personal responsibility (bolstered with education and a preventive mindset) is a key issue, but it is the food industry that can change the high-calorie environment. In his IFT blog, Cardello suggests an incentive plan tied to tax deductions for advertising: Specifically, food manufacturers and restaurant chains must lower their calories sold by 2% each year for 10 years in order to retain their deductions for advertising. Unlike the inflexibility of a regulatory environment, it would be up to manufacturers to decide which products to change. In other words, they maintain some control.
I think Cardello has some provocative ideas that beg for discussion. His central thesis - that helping to reverse the obesity crisis is a business opportunity for the food and beverage industry - can open all kinds of doors for consensus building and positive action.
Susan Finn of Upper Arlington was recently recognized as one of Bowling Green State University's "100 Most Prominent Alumni" during a ceremony held at the university's Bowen-Thompson Student Union.
