The Last Word
Healthier Turns
As the movement to reform Americans’ dietary habits remains an increasingly influential topic in the national discourse, a recent report from USDA’s Economic Research Service reveals some appetizing news: American adults are eating better, making better use of nutrition information, and consuming less cholesterol and fewer calories from fats.
The average working adult is eating about 78 fewer calories per day, according to the new USDA research, which further tracked a 6 percent decline in calories consumed from fat between 2005 and 2010. Meanwhile, fiber consumption from fruits, vegetables and whole grains climbed 8 percent during the five-year National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which was based on eating habits and related info from a nationally representative sample of some 10,000.
Another noteworthy finding is the growing use of nutrition information, which increased to 42 percent among working adults, who said they used product panel labels always or most of the time in 2009 and 2010, up from 34 percent two years earlier. Evidence that more people are reading the labels in recent years dovetails nicely with the timing of FDA’s forthcoming update of the Nutrition Facts label, which is expected to make the calorie listing more prominent and, as has been suggested, potentially remove the “calories from fat” declaration on the label, among other changes. We shall soon see.
In terms of the declines tracked in calorie consumption and saturated fats among a more captive label-reading, fresh produce- and whole grains-eating public, the national health and eating study’s key insights are undeniably great news for the entire retail food industry. As it happens, we have devoted considerable coverage to the above broad topics extensively in recent years, as well as to what the USDA researchers identify as the primary forces spurring the changes.
The recession of 2007–09 certainly played a lead role, in particular with driving people away from eating out in favor of more at-home eating, which was found to account for 20 percent of the improvements in diet quality. Moreover, changing attitudes about food and nutrition found working-age adults taking more personal responsibility for their weight, rather than blaming their genes — this proactive mindset gained three percentage points in 2010 from three years earlier. Further, the report showed little change in the importance price plays when making choices at the grocery store for working-age adults, who instead placed greater importance on nutrition with purchase decisions.
The way we spend our grocery money has also changed within the context of these transformative shifts, which are also aptly reflected in several features in this issue, including our 2014 Retail Meat Report (page 59), which found fat or decreased sales for the majority of fresh meat categories over the past year, with the exception of fresh chicken, which posted the highest increase in dollar sales in years.
In fact, our retailer-driven annual meat report mirrors new research from Chicago-based Mintel that finds American consumers shifting away from meat in the name of adopting healthier eating habits. Ninety percent of consumers in the Mintel survey reported eating some kind of red meat at least once a month, 39 percent of whom said they ate less beef in 2013 than in 2012, alongside 25 percent who claimed to have eaten less pork than the year before. In common with many who are cutting back, however, they’re likely trading up to a higher-quality product when meat is on the home menu.
For an industry that has long relied on the meat department to lasso customers through their doors, the steady evolution of changing grocery shopper trends reconfiguring the retail food scene makes it abundantly clear: Supermarkets are poised for another generational sea change.
The steady evolution of changing grocery shopper trends reconfiguring the retail food scene makes it abundantly clear: Supermarkets are poised for another generational sea change.