Food Protection

Want to see a healthy increase in your sales? Add natural and/or healthy foods and beverages to your product mix. Sales in this category are expected to reach $226 billion by 2018, according to New Hope Natural Media, organizer of Natural Products Expo West.

You may think alfalfa sprouts and tomatoes are great for you. Not so, according to a recent CNN story. Sprouts are a surprisingly frequent cause of food-borne illnesses. And for tomatoes, the health benefits you receive can depend on packaging.

Once given little significance and scant shelf space, much like organic foods, foods with halal and kosher approval are now taking entire aisles by storm as manufacturers and brands swiftly increase their certified offerings. Now "one-third to one-half of the food in a typical American supermarket is kosher," points out Sue Fishkoff, author of "Kosher Nation," in Businessweek.

American consumers demand a lot out of the foods and beverages they purchase. About 93% of shoppers surveyed by Cone Communications are mindful of product safety, while 77% cite sustainability as a top-of-mind concern. Recognizing the close relationship between food safety and sustainability is key to business success, note various industry leaders.

Have natural foods gone mainstream? It sure seems so when mainstream retailers are jumping in to compete with natural foods experts like Whole Foods Market. Consumers can now find natural products at retailers catering to all income levels—and are.

With a market value that's expected to reach $226 billion by 2018 according to New Hope Natural Media, and a growth rate projected to hit almost 16 percent for the next four years running according to Research and Markets, the natural and organic category is the Powerball of the food and beverage industry. What red-blooded American company wouldn’t want to try winning market share with its own 'natural' products?

With a proposed new label design that gives the Nutrition Facts on packaged foods and beverages their most sweeping update in more than two decades, the Obama administration is trying to make good on its promise to make Americans healthier. News reports stress that "Americans are in for a reality check" -but so is the food and beverage industry if and when the changes take place.

Every year foodborne illnesses cause roughly one-in-six Americans (48 million people) to get sick; 128,000 to be hospitalized; and 3000 to die, according to the U.S. government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These disturbing stats prompted the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA), which became law in January 2011.