“recyclable” beats “natural”
February 21st, 2007 by smidge
As the EU Parliament debates proposals about packaging regulations, this little tidbit gets unearthed:
Mintel reports that for the three month period to November 2006 the word “recyclable” was the leading claim in new food launches, slightly ahead of the “natural” claim.
This is an improvement on its position in the same period in 2005, when ‘recyclable’ only featured on 3.3 per cent of new products compared to 7.7 per cent during the latest measurement period, and ‘natural’ was the leading claim on 10.3 per cent of proudcts.
The word “natural” appeared on 7.1 per cent of new products in the three month period to November.
It feels like one of those ball races they do on the jumbotron at sports arenas, with the lead constantly changing and no one really caring. Who will win next year? “Natural” or “Recyclable”?
(via Food Production Daily)
hmmm, seems like “Naked” should beat out both.
interesting that the article doesn’t bring up option C: unpackaged food.
this week I am challenging myself (and my boyfriend, who is being an exceptionally good sport) to the 100 mile diet. http://100milediet.org/ ……..buying food from places within 100 miles. while this diet isn’t the healthiest i could think of (due to the limited availability of seasonal food here in my anytown) it does raise awareness of food miles and our dependence of food distribution as well as how unaware the local grocer is of where their food comes from (even the stores that call out “local” products.”
next week i’d like to propose a new diet: the non-packaged food diet, where the rule is, you can only get food that doesn’t come in waste packaging (but you can reuse packaging - i.e. you can get milk in glass refillable containers or bring home stuff in a reusable container.) the only food waste you’d create would be actual food scraps, which could be fed to an eager colony of compost worms.
its interesting that food packaging is often required just as a “signal”- tons of regulated data on the package, but how much is actually an efficient use of text (do you really check the niacin content in everything, or the address of the distributer and producers?) i’m sure the FDA would get grumpy if suddenly packaging was eliminated because consumers couldn’t monitor their caloric intake………but if you buy shrinkwrapped baloney and aerosol cheese are you really checking the numbers anyway? there are something you shouldn’t be able to consume, and packaging is only aiding bad eating habits.
http://blog.fastcompany.com/archives/2007/04/19/is_green_the_new_organic.html?partner=rss
The New Match! Green vs. Organic!!!