Nutrition Business Journal

According to a February 2009 study conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), 73% of Americans are just as concerned about food safety as they about the global war on terror. Perhaps more scary is the fact that only 48% said they trust the government’s ability to ensure the safety of food products.

On the heels of the ASQ consumer survey, President Barack Obama announced on March 14 the creation of a new cabinet-level food safety panel. The announcement comes just months after a peanut recall that could end up costing the peanut industry more than $1 billion dollars, according to the Georgia Peanut Commission’s executive director, Don Koehler, who recently testified before the U.S. House of Representatives’ small business committee.

Obama went on to detail how food borne disease outbreaks have been on the rise since the 1990s and cited outdated laws, underfunding, and a diffusion of responsibility between government agencies that have left many food processing plants uninspected. “That is a hazard to public health,” Obama said. “It is unacceptable. And it will change under the leadership of Margaret Hamburg, whom I am appointing today as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.”

“The United States overall does have a safe food supply,” said Steven Wilson, member of ASQ’s board of directors and a food safety expert. “However, whether food manufacturers have process controls in place or not, some have plant sanitation issues that they need to address.” During his announcement about the creation of his new food safety panel, Obama stressed the importance of not only designing stricter laws, but enforcing them.

The total U.S. food market grew 5% to $618 billion in 2008, according to NBJ estimates. Sales of natural and organic foods, often viewed as safer alternatives by consumers, grew nearly 14% to $35 billion in 2008.

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has its hackles up over mounting criticisms of its school lunch, food stamp and other public nutrition programs, which critics argue are feeding America’s growing obesity crisis. The agency—whose food nutrition programs will cost taxpayers about $73 billion and affect an estimated 61 million Americans during the 2009 fiscal year—said no definitive proof exists linking its programs to increased obesity.

“USDA is not aware of any convincing evidence that school meals or other federal nutrition programs cause obesity and overweight. The evidence that does exist is mixed,” Thomas O’Connor, USDA’s acting deputy undersecretary for nutrition, told a House Appropriations subcommittee on March 12.

As the parent of school-age children, I know that all one has to do is check out the menu of a typical public school lunch program to see that the food the USDA is feeding our nation’s children is not nearly as nutritious as it could or should be. That’s why I’m particularly interested in seeing changes occur within the USDA’s school lunch program, which continues to serve high-fat and high-sodium food to school kids every day. Fortunately, President Obama has proposed adding $1 billion a year in funding for child nutrition programs, with a portion of this money going toward improving the nutritional quality of school meals.

Here in Boulder, where Nutrition Business Journal is based, we are lucky to have Ann Cooper—a.k.a. the Renegade Lunch Lady and author of Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way we Feed Our Children—taking over the public school system’s lunch program. We’re hoping she’s able to do here what she achieved in Berkeley, California, where Cooper eliminated all trans fats and frozen foods from the city’s school lunch program and introduced healthful new menus that emphasize whole grains, low-fat protein and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Cooper discussed the issue of children’s nutrition and the work she is doing to clean up school lunch programs across the country during a packed education session at Natural Products Expo West on March 5. She is also one of the experts who will help shed light on this issue for NBJ’s upcoming Healthy Kids issue, which will publish in April.

You can order the issue, subscribe to NBJ or download a free 32-page sample issue of the journal via the NBJ Website.

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BOULDER, Colo. (March 9, 2009) — The 29th annual Natural Products Expo West/SupplyExpo (www.expowest.com), held March 5-8, 2009, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Calif., engaged more than 53,000 industry members in active business, up from last year’s record-breaking event. The event showcased the newest and most innovative products in natural, organic, and healthy living.

“Natural Products Expo West has been incredible. The show floor here certainly does not look like there’s a recession in this country,” said Stephen Brooks, Co-CEO, of Kopali Organics, a Miami, Florida-based company that buys from small organic farmers from around the world.

According to Nutrition Business Journal, consumer sales of nutrition products grew an estimated 9 percent in 2008 to more than $100 billion.

“Retail buyers need face-to-face meetings, particularly in a slower economy,” said Adam Andersen, show manager of Natural Products Expo West. “Buyers come to this show to seek out those new products that will fly off their shelves and offer a competitive advantage to their stores.”

Natural Products Expo West 2009 occupied 300,000 square feet and featured more than 1,900 exhibiting companies from 28 countries, with 484 new exhibitors. The show’s success proved that, despite a cool economy, innovation and retailer interest in natural products remains strong. Co-located events included Fresh Ideas Organic Marketplace, Healthy Baking Seminar, Nutracon, and SupplyExpo (www.supplyexpo.com), which featured the latest ingredients and manufacturing supplies.

“Products and technologies introduced at SupplyExpo allow manufacturers to get a head start in highly competitive and emerging markets around the world,” said Len Monheit, supply portfolio director with New Hope Natural Media.

Last year’s Natural Products Expo West/SupplyExpo was honored by Tradeshow Week as one of the “Top 50 Fastest Growing Shows” and was awarded a prestigious Gold Standard Award by Trade Show Executive magazine as a “Leader in Green Initiatives.” This year’s sister trade show, Natural Products Expo East, will splash down in Boston, Sept. 23-26, 2009, celebrating its 24th anniversary.

New Hope Natural Media (www.newhope.com), a division of the Penton Media Inc., is the leading media resource and information provider for the natural, organic and healthy products industry, with print, in-person/event, and e-business products and services. Penton Media is the largest independent business-to-business media company in the U.S., serving more than 6 million business professionals every month. The company’s market-leading brands are focused on 30 industries and include 113 trade magazines, 145 Web sites, 150 industry trade shows and conferences, and more than 500 information data products. Headquartered in New York City, the privately held company is owned by MidOcean Partners and U.S. Equity Partners II, an investment fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co. , LP, and its co-investors. For additional information on the company and its businesses, visit www.penton.com.

Just in case you needed one more reason to take your vitamin C supplement tomorrow morning, I came across this study that links high vitamin C intake levels with lower arthritis risk. The study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine and found that consuming more vitamin C may help reduce the risk of developing gout (a painful form of arthritis). The analysis was based on a study of almost 47,000 men who regularly consumed vitamin C between 1986 and 2006.

The study found that for every 500 mg increase in vitamin C intake, the risk for gout fell 17%. More than 1,300 of the research subjects developed gout. Compared with those whose vitamin C intake through food and supplements was less than 250 milligrams a day, the risk for gout was 17% lower among men with a daily intake of 500 to 999 milligrams, 34% lower for those who took in 1,000 to 1,499 milligrams, and 45% lower with a daily intake of 1,500 milligrams or more. Vitamin C appears to reduce levels of uric acid in the blood, according to Dr. Hyon Choi, lead author of the report. If untreated, the compound can form crystal deposits around joints, leading to the symptoms associated with gout.

“Given the general safety profile associated with vitamin C intake, particularly in the generally consumed ranges as in the present study (e.g., tolerable upper intake level of vitamin C of less than 2,000 milligrams in adults according to the Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine), vitamin C intake may provide a useful option in the prevention of gout,” Choi concluded.

U.S. consumer sales of vitamin C increased 2.3% to $884 million in 2007, according to NBJ estimates. NBJ forecasted vitamin C sales growing another 3-5% in 2008. NBJ will present 2008 vitamin sales estimates as part of the June/July Industry Overview issue.

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Our friends at Supermarket News announced Whole Foods’ intention to sell 32 stores, most of which are closed, in a settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission. The stores that will be sold include 19 Wild Oats locations, ten of which were closed by Wild Oats prior to the merger. The 13 stores to be sold that are currently operating include 12 Wild Oats locations and one Whole Foods store. A total of seven Colorado stores, five that are currently operating, are included in the settlement.

Whole Foods also has six months to sell intellectual property and trademarks associated with Wild Oats. This comes on the heels of a long battle with the FTC, in which the company has reportedly spent in excess of $16.5 million to fight the case. So what is the outlook for Whole Foods?

The retailer secured an investment in January 2008, by The Yucaipa Companies, LLC., led by supermarket investment mogul Ron Burkle. I spoke with Andrew Wolf of BB&T Capital earlier this week and he viewed the investment as a big vote of confidence. He also spoke favorably about the store’s outlook, despite the unfavorable economic conditions and problems with the FTC. “I think that in the long term, once economy turns, Whole Foods is still very valuable concept. There will still be enough people interested in best quality natural and organic.” He went on to comment on the company’s current positioning. “Whole Foods core grocery is doing ok, because the customer knows that price points are lower and they are pretty well priced in the middle of the store. It’s the high quality perimeter where consumers are trading down to lesser quality or taking a pass.”

Scott Van Winkle, Managing Director of Canaccord Adams, thinks the company may have endured the brunt of the storm in 2008 and positioned themselves well for a rebound. “I think they saw their trough in the pace of the decline of purchasing from consumers in November and December. All of the efforts they have made over the last 9 months are going to start to bear some fruits–slowing down the pace of store development, cost controls they’ve done in Austin, headcount reductions and a hiring freeze, that should result in more attrition, improving margins.”

So one might conclude that the company has done a good job managing the forces they can control, now it just needs the macroeconomic conditions to improve. “They’ve already cut prices, given better value, now they just need to educate their consumer that it’s not that expensive at whole foods,” added Van Winkle.

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