814-Lmcast«r Farming, Saturday, April 25, 1998 Food LOU ANN GOOD Lancaster Farming Staff LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.) —Fifty-one percent of consumers neither cook at home nor eat in restaurants. Instead, they want fast, tasty, and safe food to grab and go. Opportunities and challenges facing the food industry because of changing meal habits were exa mined during the two-day confer ence, “Pennsylvania’s Food Indus try Opportunities For the New Mil lennium,” which was held at Eden Resort InA and Conference Center last week. Today’s typical family has lots of activities to attend. Instead of three meals a day, people are graz ing more, and a sit-down meal with the family is a rarity. ‘Today’s society is cuisine lit erate but cooking illiterate,’’ John B. Lord, professor at Saint Joseph’s University, summed up consumers’ attitudes toward food choices. “We have access to taste many different types of food, but no one is teaching the children how to cook because the mothers are working away and don’t have time,” Lord said. In 1996, he said, Americans car ried out more meals than they ate in restaurants. This is influenced by the fact that 60 percent of women are in the workforce. Another force altering the food service market is the changing ethnic structure. By the year 20S0, the hispanic population is pre dicted to make up 47 percent of the U.S. population. Ethnic groups have different eating habits. “But it’s a fallacy to make generalizations about ethnic groups. The Hispanic population in Chicago has quite different eat ing habits than the Hispanic popu lation in Philadelphia,” Lord said. The over-50 age group is also growing in numbers and making a mark on the food industry. Older consumers hold 70 percent of the U.S. assets and have more health awareness than other age groups. “Dietary schizophrenic is pre dominate among consumers.” Lord said. “Consumers say they want nutritious food, but at the same time, only 28 percent believe that healthy food tastes good.” Consumers want taste. It's health versus indulgence. “Concern for fat has peaked.” Lord said that statistics reveal. “Consumers want more nutrients and fortified food rather than the removal of fat, sugar, and salt They want more flavor enhancement.” In a survey. 52 percent of the shoppers stated that they believe the right foods can be used to reduce amount of drugs used. Ginseng and garlic are some of the foods that are considered medicinal. Despite statistics that show that SO percent of fruit and vegetable l processors have gone out of busi ness in the past 30 years and that only seven percent of family businesses survive the transition to the fourth generation, Furman Foods is the exception. Dave Geisc, president of Fur man Foods, Inc., told how his Pen nsylvania company strives to remain a processing competitor among giants. His grandfather, a truck patch farmer, moved to the Eastern Shore then lost his farm in a land scam. He moved back to central Pennsylvania, where a bumper crop of tomatoes that he Opportunities and challenges In marketing, processing, and product development in response to changing con sumer trends and attitudes were the focus at the Food Industry Workshop. Speakers, from left, Include Hassan Gourama, Deputy Secretary Russell Redding, Steve McGre couldn’t get rid forced him to start a business by default Some groc ery owners flooded with tomatoes had said that if he would bring tomatoes in the winter, they could sell them. Geise’s grandparents canned the tomatoes and sold them to the stores in winter, launching the Furman canning company. Gcisc told how ihc company has had to change to meet changing consumer demands over the years. Packaging has gone from jars to small cans to large cans and now the flexible plastic container. He sees the plastic container as the demand of the future because it is lighter, less costly, and creates less waste. “Most producers find it difficult to eliminate products that have been successful in the past,” Geise said. He believes a company needs to be ruthless when accessing the market. One of Furman's primary con cerns is that research funding has been cut for the universities. Unlike large firms, Furman's can not afford its own research depart ment and has in the past depended upon land grant universities. The research done by private compa nies is not shared and this obstacle threatens the future of Furman’s. “The challenge is to become a low-cost producer, to find a small window of opportunity, and to see it through,” Geise said. In another session, Bemie McGorry, business marketing manager for Hershey Foods Cor poration, elaborated on the trends, needs, and opportunities of the food industry. Since 52 percent of consumer food dollars are spent on food away from home, it is predicted that in the next seven years. 100 percent growth will be seen in food services and deli areas. “Contrary to popular opinion, red meat consumption isn’t declin ing.” McGorry said. “The restaur ant demand for steak has grown by more than 27 percent in the last five years.” McGorry said that it is impor tant to watch food service trends where new foods are often intro duced about a year before being available in supermarkets. In addition to steak, growing “Convenience ie what drives the Industry,” said Dr. John Lord. “Give things that save time, because people don’t have time to plan and shop.” demands are for tropical desserts, grilled sandwiches, soft pretzel breads, and fruit beverages. These trends are set in California and are moving eastward. Ethnic soups, oven-roasted French fries, egg plant, tortillas, crabcakes, and duck are other “ris ing star” menu trends according to research. The glowing future of the food industry is maned by the difficulty in maintaining employees. “Labor is a big issue.” McGorry said. “Employment turnover is 100 percent in food services, which employs more people than any other industry.” To counteract negative food labor experiences, McGorry sug gests training, simple preparation steps, and motivation to keep people. Dr. John Connor, professor of ag economics at Purdue Universi ty, spoke on food processing at being a powerhouse in transition. He compared Pennsylvania’s food industry with those in other states. Pennsylvania is number four in outputting processed foods and gor and Doug Peck. Back, from left, are Milton Hallberg, Dennis Zak, Arun Kllara, Dave Gelse, Don Thompson, John Lord, Vic Knauf, Peter Bordi, Robert Bechman, and Steve Knabel. beverages and has maintained that position for years despite neigh boring states flailing in value and numbers. In recent years, safety and envir onmental concerns have changed the face of packaging foods. Ramaswam Anatheswaian, asso ciate professor of food science, explained the advances made with flexible packaging. Semi-rigid packaging was addressed by Dou glas Peck, director of packaging for International Home Food Pro ducts. Inc. McGorry said that convenient packaging that is portable and safe for the environment is a demand. The concensus is that the metal can will soon become obsolete. McGorry showed a semi-rigid plastic container that is easy to grasp, safe, and convenient The older population has declin ing grip strength, which is a con sideration that food producers must also take into consideration when packaging foods. Other speakers during the event included Dr. Milton Halbeig, pro fessor of ag economics at Penn State. He said that Pennsylvania is a good site far supply-oriented industry, but that declining trans portation costs, which are only half of what it cost in the 19505, is mak ing it easier for shipping raw materials elsewhere. Vic Knauf, vice president of research, talked about how biotechnology can affect the food of the future by providing better tastes, smells, and shelf life. He doesn’t think genetically engi neered foods is a negative issue in the U.S. Knauf shared some of the research done on oils to enhance the good properties and delete the negative ones. “Will biotechnology be slowed because one percent of the popula tion might have some negative reaction to it?” Knauf asked. not mi Robert Bcelman, professor of food science, spoke on the chal lenges of minimally processed foods. These included such items as salad kits, lunch and cured meats, produce, fresh pasta, and sauces. Bcelman spoke of the hurdles in guaranteeing food safety. Some of this is being achieved through anti oxidants and cholorinated water dips, vacuum packaging, and clear labeling of how products ~nced to be handled. Heat treatment provides more stringent measures from pasteuri zation, microwave heating, and ohmic heating, which uses alter nating currents to pass through food. Non-thermal physical treat ments with high-intensity pulsed electrical fields, oscillating mag netic fields, and high hydrostatic pressure, sounds great, but his experience is that it is only good for jams and purees. Ultra-violet lights and ultra sound has limits and often causes textural changes. “irradiation seems to be most accepting by consumers and appears to be effective and safe,” Beelman said. He explained diffe rent methods being tested and said that with food safety issues becom ing a primary concern, consumers may demand the irradiation process. The question is often asked: What are consumers looking for? The concensus of the conference, sponsored by Penn Stale’s Depart ment of Food Science, was that consumers want meal solutions that are prepared, convenient, accessible, tasty, and nutritious. They also want information on how to prepare it and what to serve with it Marketing strategies and pro cessing technologies to meet con sumers’ demands will determine what companies survive into the millennium. k
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers