Not only the producers, customers of food and beverage industry are also more concerned about the sustainability now. Customers care about where their foods and drinks come from, what are the effects on health and on the environment. This article will talk about some trends of sustainability of food and beverage in real life.
Organic food and beverage
Organic food has become popular in recent years, many customers are willing to pay premium price to purchase organic foods and beverages which are produced without the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. These customers purchase organic foods and beverages because they are more aware of the negative effects that modern production processes cause to the environment and their health. The environment is also protected from the pollution of chemical substances. Also, for some small farmers, they may be benefited by the trend of consuming organic goods and beverage as they cannot afford synthetic pesticide and fertilizer anyway.
Fair trade
Unlike the famous organic product, fair trade product may be less popular worldwide, yet the estimated spending on fair trade product has greatly increased in recent years. Fair trade protects the suppliers of raw materials from being exploited through the supply chain. When farmers trade their product on fair trade terms, they are then able to get better deal. Fair trade organizations even help farmers and workers improve their social, economic and environmental condition.
Eco-packing
Produces and customers also seek food and beverage sustainability from the package of the product. In the past, appearance and convenience of the package might be the most important concern, but people also want to lower the effect of the package on the environment now. Therefore, packages are also expected or preferred if they are recyclable and do not consume too much material. Also, people are trying to replace traditional packaging material which cause serious pollution to the environment. For example, a biodegradable material called bio-plastic is invented.
Food preference
Taste and price were the most important factors in choosing of food and beverage. But in recent year, healthy and safety have been a big concern for consumers. Food and beverage producers focus more on their materials' safety and try to product more healthy products to consumers in order to build a sustainable relationship with their customers. Food safety scare in Taiwan recently is a good example for produces to know the important of food safety. And McDonald's healthy menu shows the trend of healthy diet.
Conclusion
After writing this article, we learnt that how to attract customers to consume is not the only concern. Management in food and beverage industry also focus on how to develop a long term, sustainable practice. Therefore, we also need to deal with problems like the development of relationship with material suppliers, choice of input, how the product is packaged, quality control of input and changing customer preference.
Reference:
https://www.nzte.govt.nz/en/export/market-research/food-and-beverage/sustainability-trends-for-food-and-beverage-in-asia-may-2014/
http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/market-prices-and-statistics/food-and-value-added-agriculture-statistics/pubs/global_sustainability_trends_en.pdf
http://www.fairtrade.net/the-fairtrade-marks.html
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