Public skepticism is at an all-time high as it relates to ‘Big Food.’ From bloggers to social media posts and everywhere in between, consumer concern over what’s going into foods and beverages is reaching a fevered pitch.
On the other side of the aisle, food manufactures’ concerns mount over how to answer consumers’ questions. In addition to sourcing ingredients and innovating their production processes, food manufacturers also are being tasked now more than ever to defend nearly everything about their products.
What’s a food manufacturer to do?
On Day 1 of The 2015 Food Leaders Summit, Charlie Arnot, CEO of the Center for Food Integrity presented a workshop: Seven Steps to Trust-Building Transparency with Consumers to a room full of food and beverage processors.
During the Monday-afternoon workshop, Arnot and fellow CFI manager, J.J. Jones, led a session filled with facts, figures, and dialogue on topics such as:
- The origins of Big Food skepticism
- What drives consumer trust
- How to build — and maintain — consumer trust
- Overcoming ‘Big is Bad’ bias
A few noteworthy factoids from the presentation:
- GMOs have become icon of what people don’t like about industrialized food; in fact, GMOs have become the badge of ‘anti-food.'
- When it comes to food, shared values are 3-5 times more important than facts.
- Authority used to be is granted by office; now it’s authority is granted by relationship.
