Consumers Don't Care About Taste

That’s the conclusion of new market research from marketing firm Ipsos. The company reports that far more consumers are interested in fresh ingredients and environmentally friendly packaging than improving the taste of food. (The data say 26% of North American consumers want food companies to concentrate most on “providing fresh ingredients” and 21% want them to focus on “making the packaging more environmentally friendly,” vs. the 14% that think “improving the taste” is important. However, 24% think food companies need to concentrate on providing additional health benefits.)

(Insert sarcastic tone here.) Excellent. Our job is done. Time to fire all the industry chefs, and to increase production and distribution of Brussels sprouts and tofu in biodegradable containers. There’s plenty of fresh ingredients in the most grocery stores and apparently interest in quick, easy-to-prepare food is weak (6%). I suppose, when you’re unemployed you can afford to cook from scratch like my 50s-60s stay-at-home mom.

Far be it from me to argue, but why does the saying, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics,” keep popping into my head?

   -Lynn A. Kuntz