Consumer pressure forces ‘Big Food’ to make big changes

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis.

In the past five years America’s top 25 food and drink companies have lost $18 billion in market share. A direct link to the fact that consumers are calling for more transparency in how everyday foods are made and just what the ingredient lists mean. And nothing gets big businesses’ attention quicker than losses on their ledgers.

According to the Food & Environment Reporting Network, an independent, nonprofit organization that produces investigative reporting on food, agriculture and environmental health, the following companies have announced changes thanks to consumer pressure and feedback . . .[Here are a selection from the list]. . .

Tyson Foods — In response to the link between antibiotic use and the rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs, America’s top poultry producer will stop using medically important antibiotics in its chicken by 2017. Tyson’s pledge came after the one from McDonald’s, one of the largest chicken buyers in the U.S., announced its own ban on antibiotics in chicken. Tyson is the second largest producer of beef and pork, but no word of any changes in those meats.

Chipotle — The company is banning GM ( genetically modified) ingredients from its tortillas and eliminating GM oils.

Cheerios — Oats are never grown from GM seeds so the ban on GMOs only impacts sugar and cornstarch used in the making of the cereal. Because all European imports must be GMO free General Mills’s demand for non-GM crops has the power to change the way these crops are grown.

Read full, original post: Big changes for big food

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