Global suppliers paid tribute to retailers for the lead they have taken in the obesity debate, admitting the industry’s supply side needed to be far more proactive. Liz Hamson reports from CIES
Mats Lederhausen, managing director, McDonald’s
Ventures, added: “Conversations about responsibility always seem to be about someone else’s responsibility.” It was up to businesses like McDonald’s to recognise the responsibility they had towards consumers, he said pointing to the new healthy options on the McDonald’s menu and the launch of the Eat Smart, Go Active campaign last year, which this week resulted in the announcement it was launching a £1m ad campaign in the UK to encourage fruit and vegetable consumption.
He said: “Our goal is to offer a portion for every appetite, a price for every pocketbook and a taste for every palate. We have kids. We want to sell food that’s really healthy.”
The global food and drink industry is dominated by too many managers and not enough genuine leaders, delegates at last week’s CIES World Food Summit in Rome were told. Addressing the summit’s theme,The Meaning of Value, retailers and manufacturers lined up to tell the 900 delegates gathered in the plush surrounds of the Hilton Cavalieri what they were doing to address key issues such as obesity, corporate social responsibility and sustainable trade. But they also admitted that the industry needed to demonstrate more leadership if it was to crack the problems - and survive the current glare of public, media and government scrutiny.
One of the the most hotly debated issues was obesity. McDonald’s and Coca-Cola admitted manufacturers had been slow to respond to the healthy eating agenda but insisted they were taking genuine steps to adapt both product content and marketing strategy to promote healthier diets.
Neville Isdell, chairman and CEO of the Coca-Cola Company said that it was not enough for manufacturers to pay lip-service to the issue. “Legislators and regulators can pass laws and set standards… but meaningful progress will simply not happen without us. We can help consumers make informed decisions regarding health and nutrition. A suitable definition of what is needed is leadership. I think retailers have provided their fair share of leadership. We have to think about why we were so slow, why we lagged while our customers [the retailers] have been much more fleet of foot.”
Their claims did not sway Marion Nestle, the Paulette Goddard professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, who argued that big companies were cynically exploiting the debate to their own ends and that they were still busy with their primary mission to get people to eat and drink more than they needed in their daily diets.
“The deep dark secret is that too much food is produced,” she said. “In the US, we have 3,900 calories available to everyone: that’s twice what we need and it means that food companies have a very competitive environment in which to sell food. Obesity is just collateral damage.”
She criticised manufacturers for super-sizing their products and was scathing about advertising that disguised eat-more messages with health claims, such as the campaigns marketing sweetened breakfast cereals as helping against heart disease. “Eat-more messages confuse consumers. It becomes extremely difficult to make healthy choices,” she said. The only way manufacturers and retailers would become part of the solution rather than the problem, she argued, was to regulate portion control to encourage consumers to eat less and give them genuine choice.
However, despite Nestle’s scepticism, the consensus among delegates was that most manufacturers and retailers were sincere in their intentions. The question was whether they would take the required lead to tackle obesity or any of the other issues they faced.
Charles Handy, social philosopher, management scholar and author argued for the industry to be less reactive to government directives and more proactive. “Governments don’t lead, they follow,” he said.
Mike Moore, former director general of the World Trade Organisation and former prime minister of New Zealand (see right), urged the industry to lobby for the reduction of subsidies to developing countries, a sentiment echoed by John Menzer, president and CEO of Wal-Mart International who said that as a multinational retailer, the company had “a vital interest in the streamlined and sustainable flow of international goods, services, agricultural products and financial capital”.
Better leadership was also needed in less obvious areas, said Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth, chairman of Vodafone and former chairman of Tesco. He argued that it was crucial for businesses to get the balance right on tangibles such as product and price and intangibles like customer experience and corporate image.
The message at the end of the three-day summit was that management must demonstrate leadership and vision and be prepared to take risks. With the spotlight on the activities of the food and drink industry harsher by the day, those that do not could pay a high price.
Mats Lederhausen, managing director, McDonald’s
Ventures, added: “Conversations about responsibility always seem to be about someone else’s responsibility.” It was up to businesses like McDonald’s to recognise the responsibility they had towards consumers, he said pointing to the new healthy options on the McDonald’s menu and the launch of the Eat Smart, Go Active campaign last year, which this week resulted in the announcement it was launching a £1m ad campaign in the UK to encourage fruit and vegetable consumption.
He said: “Our goal is to offer a portion for every appetite, a price for every pocketbook and a taste for every palate. We have kids. We want to sell food that’s really healthy.”
The global food and drink industry is dominated by too many managers and not enough genuine leaders, delegates at last week’s CIES World Food Summit in Rome were told. Addressing the summit’s theme,The Meaning of Value, retailers and manufacturers lined up to tell the 900 delegates gathered in the plush surrounds of the Hilton Cavalieri what they were doing to address key issues such as obesity, corporate social responsibility and sustainable trade. But they also admitted that the industry needed to demonstrate more leadership if it was to crack the problems - and survive the current glare of public, media and government scrutiny.
One of the the most hotly debated issues was obesity. McDonald’s and Coca-Cola admitted manufacturers had been slow to respond to the healthy eating agenda but insisted they were taking genuine steps to adapt both product content and marketing strategy to promote healthier diets.
Neville Isdell, chairman and CEO of the Coca-Cola Company said that it was not enough for manufacturers to pay lip-service to the issue. “Legislators and regulators can pass laws and set standards… but meaningful progress will simply not happen without us. We can help consumers make informed decisions regarding health and nutrition. A suitable definition of what is needed is leadership. I think retailers have provided their fair share of leadership. We have to think about why we were so slow, why we lagged while our customers [the retailers] have been much more fleet of foot.”
Their claims did not sway Marion Nestle, the Paulette Goddard professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, who argued that big companies were cynically exploiting the debate to their own ends and that they were still busy with their primary mission to get people to eat and drink more than they needed in their daily diets.
“The deep dark secret is that too much food is produced,” she said. “In the US, we have 3,900 calories available to everyone: that’s twice what we need and it means that food companies have a very competitive environment in which to sell food. Obesity is just collateral damage.”
She criticised manufacturers for super-sizing their products and was scathing about advertising that disguised eat-more messages with health claims, such as the campaigns marketing sweetened breakfast cereals as helping against heart disease. “Eat-more messages confuse consumers. It becomes extremely difficult to make healthy choices,” she said. The only way manufacturers and retailers would become part of the solution rather than the problem, she argued, was to regulate portion control to encourage consumers to eat less and give them genuine choice.
However, despite Nestle’s scepticism, the consensus among delegates was that most manufacturers and retailers were sincere in their intentions. The question was whether they would take the required lead to tackle obesity or any of the other issues they faced.
Charles Handy, social philosopher, management scholar and author argued for the industry to be less reactive to government directives and more proactive. “Governments don’t lead, they follow,” he said.
Mike Moore, former director general of the World Trade Organisation and former prime minister of New Zealand (see right), urged the industry to lobby for the reduction of subsidies to developing countries, a sentiment echoed by John Menzer, president and CEO of Wal-Mart International who said that as a multinational retailer, the company had “a vital interest in the streamlined and sustainable flow of international goods, services, agricultural products and financial capital”.
Better leadership was also needed in less obvious areas, said Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth, chairman of Vodafone and former chairman of Tesco. He argued that it was crucial for businesses to get the balance right on tangibles such as product and price and intangibles like customer experience and corporate image.
The message at the end of the three-day summit was that management must demonstrate leadership and vision and be prepared to take risks. With the spotlight on the activities of the food and drink industry harsher by the day, those that do not could pay a high price.
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