Food Pacific Manufacturing Journal

There is much to cover when the topics of food safety and quality are up for discussion.  The report, Food safety and quality sustainability: Role of sensory evaluation, on page 22 details the steps in ensuring quality and safety during processing, from raw material inspection up to product shelf life monitoring and acceptability, and also by example, explains how sensory evaluation is implemented in the process. Dr Miflora Gatchalian who contributed this report, is an expert in quality. Only last month, she presented before the virtual audiences of two conferences: The Latin American Quality Congress XLVIII National Quality Congress and the Asia Pacific Quality Organisation Conference.

Dr Gatchalian mentions “retention of consumer acceptance” as a key to business recovery and survival as we all go through this phase of coronavirus. Manufacturers know this as a rule – that they must constantly be monitoring their markets, most especially how the pandemic is changing consumer attitudes. Ingredient companies including those featured in this report, BENEO, DuPont, and Kerry, are using resources to understand the consumer.

On page 10, the Australian Macadamia shares this: Generation Z who are born in a time of “flux, fluidity and mass disruption”, are totally different from past generations when it comes to their food and beverages choices. 

In the same report Jim Richards, CEO of plant-based milk specialists milkadamia, describes them as so: “Today’s consumers are looking for wellness, but the lens through which wellness is viewed has changed. It used to just mean good nutrition, but now, especially to younger generations, it’s so much bigger than that. Consumers want to be vital, energetic and well. But they also recognise that they can’t be well if everything around them isn’t well.”  

BENEO echoes this as well, and I quote their report: Environmental concerns have been heightened as a result of COVID-19. This is in part due to some consumers questioning whether issues such as air pollution have increased respiratory issues, making people more vulnerable to the disease. This concern is being translated into altered buying patterns, with 60% of consumers now being more attentive to the impact that their food and drink has on the environment.

This isn't only true for the ingredients that make up the food. Young consumers are also concerned with how products are made and if packaging is sustainable. Overall, they’re thinking total well-being not only for the mind and body, but also for the world they live in.