Food Safety Magazine, February/March 2012

CATEGORY: INGREDIENTSThe Next Frontier: Values-BasedCommunicationsIt has always been difficult to translate scientific informationfor the public, but new challenges—including increased adoptionof the precautionary principle, the proliferation of socialmedia, as well as the release of popular books and movies onfood-related issues—have added to the complexity, as society reactsto images and hypothetical scenarios that spur fear of theunknown, including what we don’t know about our food. 3With never-ending communications taking place in the blogosphereand online communities, we have seen an increase ininformation on all fronts, including misinformation, whichcontributes to conflicting and inconsistent information that isdifficult for consumers to interpret. When communicating withconsumers about food ingredients, the facts are important, butperhaps equally important these days is the consideration ofconsumers’ values, lifestyles and beliefs. Food is a very personalthing for consumers, and is usually connected to family andtradition. In particular, moms—who tend to do the majority ofthe grocery shopping for their households—are concerned withproviding safe and nutritious meals for their families.“...the benefits of food ingredients for food safety, nutrition and healthare often overlooked, or aren’t even considered.”aware that both natural and artificial food colors must be labeledon food packages and nearly half agree that food colorsmust be reviewed and approved by the U.S. government beforebeing added to food products. However, fewer than one in fiveconsumers thinks that most government and health authoritiessay there is no link between food colors and hyperactivity inchildren. This general lack of awareness indicates an opportunityto provide education about the roles, regulation and potentialbenefits of food ingredients.Despite concerns and negative sentiments about ingredientsand processed foods, when it comes to food and beverage purchasedecisions, taste prevails, with 87 percent of consumersranking taste as an important factor. Foods with a more healthfulnutrition profile must still taste good to make it into consumers’shopping carts. Food ingredients such as low-caloriesweeteners, fat replacers and other ingredients have helpedmake possible the availability of foods with lower fat, sugar andsodium content to improve the healthfulness of favorite foods,while maintaining the taste consumers expect. Healthfulness isincreasing in importance as a factor in consumers’ food purchasingdecisions, with 66 percent ranking it as having an impacton their decisions. In addition, these safe ingredients arecost-effective, helping keep food affordable for consumers, 79percent of whom say price is important in their food and beveragepurchases, a 15 percent increase over the past 6 years.The food label provides information on ingredients for consumers’use. Nearly half of all consumers say they look at theingredients list on food packaging when making food and beveragechoices. However, they are primarily looking for foodcomponents such as sodium, type of fat/oil and sugars. Lessthan half (44 percent) of those consumers who are looking atthe ingredients list report looking for “artificial ingredients,”and only 21 percent look for food colors. Just 18 percent areconcerned with being able to pronounce the ingredient names. 2It is important to make the public aware of the availabilityof information about food ingredients, whether it is on thelabel or through science-based information on the Internet andin doctors’ offices, or through contacting the U.S. Food andDrug Administration (FDA) or the product manufacturer, all ofwhich can provide information to help consumers make informeddecisions.Foods containing ingredients commonly consumed by childrencan create anxiety for moms, who want to protect theirchildren and themselves and may not be exposed to both sidesof the issue when reading about food ingredients in the media.For example, there has been renewed interest in the perceivedlink between consumption of artificial food colors and hyperactivityin children among media and advocacy groups, and inturn, some moms and mommy bloggers. The most recent studyto indicate a link 4 has been the basis for the voluntary removalof select artificial food colors in Europe and petitions to removeartificial food colors from the food supply in the UnitedStates, despite decades of safe use and significant limitations ofthe study identified by scientists, academics and regulatoryagencies such as the FDA and the European Food Safety Authority(EFSA). 5FDA revisits ingredient approvals as necessary and if a concernis raised, as evidenced by its recent review of all existing researchon food colors and hyperactivity, in which it upheld itsconclusion that food colors do not cause hyperactivity in children.6 In addition, FDA and EFSA found the study by Mc-Cann et al. (i.e., the Southampton study) 4 to be limited by themethodology used, as well as the combination of colors andadditives and the use of anecdotal reports from parents andteachers. 5 In addition, a study of Irish children showed thatdaily consumption of food colors did not reach the amountstested in the Southampton study and that the combination ofcolors tested would not exist in the real world. 3,7The public hears about risks and wants to take action. However,it is important to put studies and perceived risks into contextfor consumers to avoid unintended consequences, such aseliminating foods and food groups that offer important sourcesof nutrients, or taking on comparably greater food safety risks.In the case of food colors, some children who have been diagnosedwith attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder may be sensitiveto certain foods and food ingredients, including food52 F O O D S A F E T Y M A G A Z I N E