Clash or compromise: Can consumer demands and responsible food ever match?
Consumer demand is both powerful and persuasive and so companies need to be reactive if they are to survive. But if the demand for healthy, clean label food means a risk to food safety, more food waste or a bigger carbon and water footprint, should companies listen?
The panellists debated the complexity and challenges food companies experience when well-intentioned consumer demands are in direct conflict with their eco-friendly, healthy, and sustainable intent.
The four panellists were Nadia Berenstein, journalist and historian; Laura MacCleery, policy director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI); John O’Brien, professor and former chief executive officer of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland; and Mehmood Kahn, MD, vice chairman and chief scientific officer at PepsiCo.
