How the food giants trick consumers

[joatsaint 2,814]

I thought this was another great article on how on one hand, we're being scolded and treated as outcasts for being fat, and at the same time, food companies are engineering foods that are designed to create cravings and make us fatter.

I am all for taking personal responsibility, but at some point you have to realize they are targeting us and creating products that overwhelm our natural stopping point when eating and creating a craving for unhealthy foods. The only way to strike back at these companies is to quit buying their products!

According to Michael Moss, the Pulitzer prizing-winning reporter and author of the new book Soups, Tomato sauces and hundreds of other food products have put millions of individuals’ health at risk. But the Quest for bigger profits and a larger share of the consumer market has compelled the processed food industry to turn a blind eye to the dangers and consequences of eating those very products.

How do the food giants trick consumers? Moss gives several examples:

• “At Cargill, scientists are altering the physical shape of salt, pulverizing it into a fine powder to hit the taste buds faster and harder, improving what the company calls its ‘flavor burst.’”
  
• “Scientists at Nestle are currently fiddling with the distribution and shape of fat globules to affect their absorption rate and, as it’s known in the industry, ‘their mouthfeel.’”
  
• “To make a new soda guaranteed to create a craving requires the high math of regression analysis and intricate charts to plot what industry insiders call the “bliss point,” or the precise amount of sugar or fat that will send consumers over the moon.”
  

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/food-companies-trick-consumers-eating-unhealthy-products-132949611.html

[johnlatte 1,232]

I find “exposes” like this extremely fascinating. I am not sure why the typical American consumer can be shocked and outraged at stories like this, but continue to pour billions into the industry. I am not defending either side, but coming from the food industry as a chef, the whole goal of this business to do whatever it takes to bring customers back. If you come into my restaurant, and I don’t give you a good meal, then do you come back? These companies spend millions in research; they hire outstanding food scientists, medical researchers, marketers and even psychologists to understand their customers, their tastes and buying habits. Consumer buying habits are a studied science and these companies they are providing what their customers want; just like I would do on own my line. Customers want what they want, you can offer up healthy options, but realistically they are a small portion of a business, and tend to cost the business in the long run.

Over the last 4 or 5 years, I’ve seen this sudden wave of blame being washed over corporations that are simply providing what their customers are asking for. I think I understand the reasoning, but not the thought. People want to be protected, but still spend the dollars eating this type of food. But who is protecting us? The government? Did you know that the USDA, was the driving force behind pizza Hut’s stuffed crust pizza campaign? In order to help big dairy farmers, the USDA created a company that went to corporations like Pizza Hut, Dominos etc, to get them to use more cheese. They even lent their labs to the companies to help them produce the product. At the same time the gov’t was sending out new regulations about the serving size and nutritional content of children’s school lunches, they signed off meat producers to add the so called “pink slime” to meat products.

I could go on, but if you want to learn more, about how we are being manipulated from both ends of the equation, I suggest you read Food Inc. or The Omnivores Dilemma. Here’s a link that talks about the government involvement in big ag. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/health/video-mixed-signals-why-is-the-usda-promoting-nutrition-and-pushing-cheese/5296/

If you want to learn more about how these companies get inside our heads. Go to You Tube and watch “The Persuaders”. A great documentary on why we buy what we buy and how marketers and companies study us.

[simplejaxgirl 135]

Wow. Very interesting information from both posts. I've watched food Inc and many documentaries on such...floored is all I can say...

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