by The global number of obesity is increasing dramatically, and the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that one in eight is now obese. Along with that, the number of people suffering from malnutrition as a result of poor diet, is also rising.
“Malnutrition refers to deficiencies or excesses in nutrient intake, an imbalance of essential nutrients or impaired utilization of nutrients. The double burden of malnutrition is undernutrition and overweight and obesity, said a WHO spokesperson.
But cost remains a major barrier for consumers to buy healthy foods and drinks.
“Cost is becoming a concern – and a barrier – for European consumers to access sustainable and healthy food,” said Giulia Riedo, agriculture and sustainable food officer, at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
In addition, figures from Our World in Data show that three billion people around the world cannot afford a healthy diet. He cites the current affordability of an ‘adequate calorie’ diet compared to the high cost of healthy, nutritious food.
And this concern is being felt not only by health and environmental organizations, but also by brands.
“The diets we are eating today are not sustainable for human health,” said Marianne O’Shea, vice president of Global Health & Nutrition Sciences of PepsiCo, at Future Food-Tech in London. “We need to make significant changes.”
In addition, consumer demand for healthier foods is increasing.
“Healthy eating is on the rise,” said a spokesperson for the consultancy, Gray. “Consumer concerns about gluten, dairy, sugar and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are driving this trend.”
This means that, as well as helping to improve the health of consumers, there is also a huge opportunity for food and drink to increase sales.
So how is the industry addressing the issue of affordability and what else can be done?
How is food and drink making healthy foods and drinks affordable?
Reformulation is the word of the hour and food and drink is doing it in abundance, especially when it comes to making healthy foods more accessible to consumers.
“Food reformulation can help ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all,” said a WHO spokesperson.
And brands are listening, with everyone from The Kraft Heinz Company to PepsiCo joining the affordable health food movement.
“The science is very clear on added sugar, saturated fat and sodium,” says PepsiCo’s O’Shea. “And if we do nothing else in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, we need to act now and reformulate these nutrients.”
In addition, brands are reformulating to add vital nutrients to their ranges, creating what are sometimes called functional foods and drinks.
This is popular with consumers as it allows them to enjoy the same products they always have, but with the added benefit of being healthier.
“We need to meet consumers where they are, with the foods they eat,” says PepsiCo’s O’Shea. “Most of us are creatures of habit. We do not like big changes and it is often not possible for us to make many changes to our diet. So when we tackle existing foods that are being eaten at scale, and improve them, we can have a huge impact.”
This is also a win for manufacturers as they don’t risk losing consumers to healthier alternatives.
That being said, reformulation to cut HFSS and add functional ingredients is a complex and expensive process.
“If you’re in the food industry, you know how difficult reformulation is,” says Sara de Pelsmaeker, health & wellness director at Puratos. “It becomes a more expensive product. You have problems with texture and taste.”
As a result, many large manufacturers are using this as an opportunity to support smaller brands, which do not have the same equipment to reformulate products.
“An opportunity for us as a large food company, where we reach a billion consumers a day, is that we can help improve their diets and share what they learn with food companies that don’t have the resources to start to contribute to this reformation journey,” says PepsiCo’s O’Shea.
What else can be done to make healthy foods affordable?
The pressure to make healthy, nutritious foods and drinks more affordable will not only come from the brands themselves, but from regulatory bodies, encouraging them to change.
“Regulators are encouraging brands to reformulate products to make them healthier through nutritional labeling schemes, including non-HFSS and Nutri-Score,” Lin Peterse, category development manager for Tate & Lyle, told FoodNavigator.
But many in the industry say government help is needed to enforce these regulations.
“Incentives need to be put into the market if we are going to have a healthy and sustainable food system,” says Greg Garrett, executive director of the Access to Nutrition Initiative (ATNI).
And when it comes to what consumers want, research by consulting firm Gray found that healthy drinks, snacks and ready-to-go meals were popular. This is a result of busy lifestyles and hectic schedules, leaving people time poor but still wanting to have healthy options available to them.
