Survey: Food Cos Should Focus On Green Packaging, Not Taste

June 11, 2009

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Twenty-one percent of North American consumers surveyed by Ipsos Marketing say food companies should concentrate most on making packaging more environmentally friendly. Surprisingly, since we are talking about food, only 14% say companies should focus on improving how food tastes.

The percentage of people from other regions who picked green packaging was also significant: Latin America 26%, Europe 22%, and Asia-Pacific 15%.

Providing fresh ingredients topped the list in North America and providing additional health benefits was second. Environmentally-friendly packaging was third, improving taste fourth, more convenient packaging fifth, developing ‘new’ food sixth, and easier to prepare food seventh.

Sustainable packaging will grow to 32% of the total global packaging market by 2014, up from just 21% in 2009, according to recent research.

“For food marketers, the challenge is to ensure that innovation platforms are clearly focused on these consumer needs, not merely in developed markets but also in emerging ones that will undoubtedly become increasingly salient in the near future,” says David Pring, executive vice president, Ipsos Marketing, Global Consumer Goods.. “At the same time, Marketers must be careful not to compromise taste, although this should go hand-in-hand with the use of fresh ingredients.”

The study was conducted by Ipsos Marketing, Consumer Goods via an online survey of approximately 1,000 citizens in each of 18 countries: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Turkey and the U.S.

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Reader Comments

I think you are missing an important point regarding taste, which you indicate being surprised by its low rating.

In three of the four regions surveyed, using fresh ingredients was #1, and while not all fresh ingredients are grown the same, which impacts taste and flavor, I would argue that this is a strong endorsement for better tasting food.

Rob Smart | June 12th, 2009