Convenience
Food Trends — Change Is in the Air
By Victoria Shanta-Retelny, RD, LD
Today’s Dietitian
Vol. 7 No. 4 P. 44
Convenience food consumers are becoming more
health-conscious and food manufacturers are responding.
Ah, convenience… Remember when convenience
food meant a frozen tin-foil–wrapped tray divided into compartments,
one for refined carbs such as macaroni and cheese, a high-sodium
brick of protein with mushy, overcooked vegetables, and a super-sweet
confection that was supposed to resemble a hot-from-the-oven brownie
or homemade apple pie? These meals were marketed as “TV dinners”
as an accompaniment to America’s favorite sedentary pastime:
watching television. Food manufacturers and grocers were reveling
in the fact that they were meeting the consumer demands for fast,
affordable, and tasty meals.
The story is changing in today’s marketplace
as consumers are becoming more sophisticated and aware of the vital
role food plays in enhancing health and quality of life. Bon Appetit
magazine recently presented the classic TV dinner with a modern,
gourmet twist of roasted vegetable meat loaf, mustard mashed potatoes,
green beans with garlic, lemon, and parsley, and strawberry-rhubarb
crisps with cardamom and nutmeg. For those who enjoy cooking, this
is nirvana, but for others the packaged version is much more appealing.
Packaged food manufacturers are well aware of this need and are
reaching out to those who are all about convenience.
Convenience food manufacturers are scrambling to
meet the demands of busy, health-conscious consumers by cutting
trans fats, using sugar substitutes, and creating low-calorie options.
The New York Times recently reported on the state of the trans fat
abolition from convenience foods. PepsiCo has already scrubbed trans
fats from its Frito-Lay brand chips. Health-oriented grocery stores
such as Whole Foods and Wild Oats refuse to sell any processed food
that contains it. Last month, Gorton’s removed trans fat from
its fish sticks and Tyson Foods introduced frozen fried chicken
products sans trans fat. Executives at Kraft Foods, ConAgra, Kellogg,
and Campbell Soup want to get trans fat out of most or all of their
products by the beginning of next year.1
Taste, Nutrition, and the Marketplace
“Statistics show that about 50% of people read food labels
and purchase foods for health reasons,” explains Linda McDonald,
MS, RD, LD, president of Supermarket Savvy, an Internet-based company
in Houston with a mission to make healthier grocery shopping easier
and more enjoyable. McDonald’s business is based on analyzing
grocery industry trends and making healthy recommendations for consumers
and health professionals. “Taste is still the most important
aspect of foods for consumers, but nutrition is still second,”
states McDonald. With the recent release of the updated Dietary
Guidelines for Americans, McDonald predicts an increased interest
in health and nutrition as people will be eating more produce, whole
grains, and omega-3 fats.
In the global marketplace, convenience foods are
exploding as food manufacturers are vying to stay competitive. The
Internet-based food and beverage Web site www.foodnavigator.com
reported in January that convenience foods, which dominated the
growth in the global product categories from 2003 to 2004, will
drive new product development in the next 12 months.2 Products such
as drinkable yogurts, sugar substitutes, and prepared foods are
continuing to experience large sales growth according to the site.
“The idea of knowing and doing are two different
things,” says Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, LD, of Northwestern
Memorial Hospital Wellness Institute in Chicago and a national spokesperson
for the American Dietetic Association. “We all know what we
should be eating, but convenience foods manufacturers aren’t
always putting the should’s into action,” she cautions.
Ultimately, that leaves the onus on the consumer to weed out what
is healthy vs. unhealthy.
By taking each product at face value, Blatner teaches
consumers what to look for on a food label. “There are six
key points to determine whether to leave a product on the shelf
or put it in your cart,” she says. They are the following:
• actual serving size;
• calories per serving (use this rule of thumb:
100 to 200 calories is a snack or part of a meal and 300 to 500
calories is a whole meal);
• low saturated fat (less than 4 grams per
serving);
• sodium level (500 milligrams or less per
serving);
• dietary fiber source (good sources have
3 grams to 5 grams and excellent sources have 5 grams or more);
and
• the ingredient list (beware of unhealthy
culprits such as hydrogenated oils and high-fructose corn syrup
that may be lurking in the top five ingredients).
Convenience and Health
These days, convenience does not have to mean unhealthy. “Prepared
vegetables and salads, organic frozen snacks, whole grain cereal
bars, and cultured soy drinks” are some of the winners that
Supermarket Savvy found in both the health and convenience areas,
according to McDonald. Phood (combining food and medicine) has become
the new wonder drug as researchers unlock the secrets of phytochemicals,
omega-3 fats, and other substances that promise to forestall ailments.3
According to Shopping for Health 2004, an annual
report by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) issued in conjunction
with Prevention magazine, 56% of survey respondents strongly agreed
that healthy eating is a better way to manage illness than taking
medications.4 Food manufacturers are capitalizing on the consumers’
need to be healthy. “Convenience is something we need to be
healthy,” contends Blatner.
Trendspotting
ACNielsen’s recent executive news report “What’s
Hot Around the Globe — Insights on Growth in Food and Beverages
2004” identified the top two trends that have driven the sales
growth in the food and beverage categories analyzed over the last
12 months as “A Continued Focus on Health” and “The
Need for Convenience.”5 This annual report analyzed retail
purchases of 59 countries from Asia Pacific, the Emerging Markets
(ie, Hungary, Latvia, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa), Europe, Latin
America, and North America with data across 89 food and beverage
categories and 12 product areas, such as baby food, alcoholic beverages,
nonalcoholic beverages, confectionery, snacks, dairy, meat, fish,
eggs, fruits, vegetables, ready-to-eat meals, nonsweet carbohydrates,
desserts, cakes, pastries, cooking basics, and sauces.
The encouraging news from this research for nutrition professionals
is that the world’s fastest-growing products support healthy
diets, weight loss, and on-the-go lifestyles.5 Fruits and vegetables
are considered a healthy food group by many people as the consumption
of frozen fruit, fresh, ready-to-eat salads, fresh vegetables, shelf-stable
fruit, and nuts increased over the last year, according to the ACNielsen
findings.
Health and weight-loss diet trends were predictors
of retail sales growth, especially in developed markets. The ACNielsen
findings revealed the top global growth in the categories of soy-based
drinks (+31%), drinkable yogurts (+19%), and eggs (+16%). The high-protein/low-carb
craze of 2003-2004 dictated the fastest-growing category as meat,
fish, and eggs (+6%). A closer examination of the fastest-growing
food and beverage categories reveals that consumer interest in high-protein/low-carbohydrate
(“low-carb”) diets, particularly in more developed markets
(eg, North American), was a major factor in category growth.5
On the other hand, the nonsweet carbohydrates, such
as breads, pastas, and cereals, experienced the lowest growth rate
(+2%). Interestingly, the nonalcoholic beverages category, specifically
carbonated beverages, was the largest grower in the global marketplace
(+5%). However, it is unknown whether it was carbonated mineral
water or sugar-laden soft drinks that drove up that category—the
research does not discern.
Can You Hear Me Now?
As consumers are beginning to see new and improved, healthier food
products everywhere from the grocery store to quik-marts in gas
stations, does this mean that food companies are listening to consumer
demands?
“Our member companies are very engaged and
involved with the issue of creating healthier, more convenient foods
for consumers,” says Stephanie Childs, spokesperson for the
Grocery Manufacturers of America, Inc. (GMA) in Washington, D.C.
Of the 140 companies the GMA represents, 90 companies have a food
and beverage portfolio, such as Dannon, Kellogg Company, and General
Mills. As a result, the GMA played a large role in the revision
of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans by submitting written and
oral comments to the government.
Science Meets Reality
“Here’s where science meets reality as we strive to
provide healthier choices for consumers while at the same time knowing
that all changes do not happen overnight,” Childs explains.
For example, she identifies the trans fat issue as one that will
take some time to fully abolish as the lack of technology and alternative
oils is slowing down the progress. “In the meantime, our member
companies are striving to encourage greater consumption of whole
grains, calorie-controlled items, and calcium-rich foods,”
she says.
Recognizing the fact that consumers lead fast-paced
lifestyles, the GMA’s companies are striving to make a difference
in the convenience arena with whole grain, high-fiber snack product
lines; calorie-controlled, convenient 100-calorie snack packs; and
smaller-sized, 2- to 4-ounce yogurts to encourage children to eat
high-calcium, low-fat dairy products throughout the day. “Our
goal is to empower consumers, not limit them,” Childs says.
Convenience foods can be a nemesis of dietitians
as consumers have endless choices. And some choices are better than
others. With the need for improved convenience continuing to rise,
ready-to-eat meals, refrigerated-complete meals, and toaster pastries
topped the list in retail sales in the last year.5 The concern is
that many of these meals are not promoting health as they can be
high in sodium, saturated fat, and added sugar. However, that’s
only one side of the story.
The Savvy Shopper
“There are tons of changes in packaging and processing of
foods that are a help for the health-conscious consumer,”
McDonald explains. “What comes to mind first are the cleaned
and cut vegetables ready for stir-frying or microwaving and the
salad kits with everything clean, chopped, and ready for quick assembly.”
The others that she mentions as convenience innovations are frozen
and shelf-stable entrees that are being targeted to the health-conscious
consumer. “Lean Cuisine is adding more vegetables and going
to whole grains with a new ‘Spa’ line of entrees,”
says McDonald.
“Shoppers continue to rely on nutrition labels
for information to fuel their decisions,” according to Michael
Sansolo, senior vice president, FMI, in an article in the November
8, 2004, issue of FMI’s e-publication, Facts, Figures, &
The Future. Sansalo refers to Shopping for Health for the latest
shoppers’ behaviors. “Eighty-three percent of shoppers
say they regularly look at nutrition labels when buying a product
for the first time,” he says. The report found that the reason
consumers read labels range from specific diets to concerns about
improving their ability to avoid specific illnesses. Health concerns
were at the top of the list, with 42% of shoppers admitting to purchasing
foods that claim to reduce the risk of heart disease and 26% admitting
to purchasing products that claim to help fight cancer.6
“What they [consumers] say matters most are
foods that are low-fat [63%], low in saturated fat [55%], low in
calories [52%], and lastly, low-carb [40%],” highlights Sansalo.
From a nutrition standpoint, the report found that a large percentage
of those surveyed (62%) look for whole grains, 51% look for high
amounts of calcium, and a similar percentage look for vitamin C
content.
“It is possible to eat healthy almost anywhere,
but it takes a savvy consumer who is willing to read the nutrition
information and to ask for it if it is not available,” cites
McDonald.
According to HealthandAge.com, a Web site created
by the Novartis Foundation for Gerontology in 1998 and sponsored
by the Web-based Health Education Foundation, an independent nonprofit
organization, the phrase “convenience food” describes
a variety of hot or cold foods and dishes that require little or
no effort in preparation. They are classified according to the level
of preparation necessary.
The encouraging news is although consumers still
want fast food, the demand for healthier, convenient food is ubiquitous.
Whether people are choosing the healthier options is the key variable.
In this world where obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and
certain cancers are dramatically increasing daily, it seems as though
consumers are falling short. However, consumer research is relaying
a different story, in which people are taking a more proactive role
in seeking foods with medicinal properties, added health benefits,
and lower calories. On the other side of the coin, food manufacturers
are responding to consumer demands and heeding government dietary
recommendations. The surge of re-packaging, relabeling, and reformulating
has only just begun. It’s up to nutrition professionals to
help consumers decipher between what really are healthier products.
— Victoria Shanta-Retelny, RD, LD, is a
practicing dietitian at Northwestern Memorial Wellness Institute
in Chicago, a freelance food and nutrition writer, and a culinary
spokesperson.
References
1. Severson K, Warner M. Fat substitute is pushed out of the kitchen.
The New York Times Web site. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com.
Accessed February 13, 2005.
2. Ongoing opportunities from convenience in 2005. Available at:
http://www.foodnavigator.com.
Accessed January 27, 2005.
3. McDonald L. Food and nutrition trends and predictions for 2005.
Supermarket Savvy. 2005. http://www.supermarketsavvy.com
4. Shopping for health. Food Marketing Institute, 2004. Available
at: http://www.fmi.org
5. What’s hot around the world – Insights in the growth
in the food and beverages 2004. ACNielsen Executive News Report,
December 2004. Available at: http://www.acnielsen.ca
6. Sansalo M. Labels matter. Facts, Figures, & the Future. Food
Marketing Institute, ACNielsen and The Lempert Report. November
8, 2004. Available at: http://www.fmi.org
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