Talk:Lentis/Marketing of Natural Foods

To do list
Determine:
 * Social groups (consumers, organizations, etc.)
 * Subcategories of natural foods
 * Definitions of natural foods

Purpose
What does your case teach us about the social interface of technology?

Problem
How do social groups in the United States compete to define natural foods?
 * History of food and marketing. How we came to have our diet and how that affects natural food marketing

Region
USA. Can possibly have a small section overviewing perspectives worldwide.

Target Consumers
Humans, i.e. no pets or other animals.

Legal Definitions
It advised on their website "the agency has not objected to the use of the term if the food does not contain added color, artificial flavors, or synthetic substances."

Organic Labeling

 * USDA National Organic Program
 * Instruction Accreditation Policies and Procedures
 * USDA Organic Standards

Natural Food

 * Merriam Webster: "food that has undergone minimal processing and contains no preservatives or artificial additives"
 * FDA: "The FDA has considered the term "natural" to mean that nothing artificial or synthetic (including all color additives regardless of source) has been included in, or has been added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in that food."

Consumers

 * "These findings suggest that people believe consumers of natural food are more virtuous, and we suggest this is driven by the altruistic attitudes that people believe to be associated with natural food consumption."
 * "multiple complex layers of community literacies and movements involving foods labeled as “natural,” including an increasing availability of “natural” foods" This paper looks into different community movements regarding "natural" foods and how they are marketed. We can look into here to identify possible social groups that are against the natural food marketing and look at their agendas to see if it is relevant.
 * "A majority of pregnant women assessed their financial situation as satisfactory. The main motive behind buying organic food was their wish to take special care of their health during the pregnancy period and the need to take care of the family. There were differences in the use of sources of information about organic food or the importance of individual determinants of their purchase by the pregnant women. This knowledge can be used on the organic food market to develop marketing solutions, which will be useful in satisfying the needs of this group of consumers more effectively."
 * "Consideration of future consequences (CFC) represents the extent to which individuals consider future versus immediate consequences of their current behaviors. Consequently, a future oriented personality may be an important characteristic of organic food consumers. Participants with higher CFC were more likely to consume organic food. This study provides information on the personality of organic food consumers in a large sample of adult participants. Consideration of future consequences could represent a significant psychological determinant of organic food consumption."
 * "...consumers often confuse organic and free‐range products because they believe that 'organic' is equivalent to 'free‐range' food... although health and food safety concerns are the main motives for organic food purchases, ethical concerns, specifically in relation to standards of animal welfare, play a significant influencing role in the decision to purchase organic food"
 * "In the United States, consumers have spent more than $40 billion on food labeled natural over the past year, and 51% of Americans search for all natural products when shopping. Consumers, however, are confused by the term's meaning, and "only 47% view the claim as trustworthy...recent attempts to establish a standard in the absence of government regulation and concludes that the natural claim is more likely to be abandoned by food manufacturers than it is to be defined in a uniform and enforceable manner. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act ("FDCA") of 1938 grants the FDA the power to "promulgate food definitions and standards of food quality." The FDCA deems a food as "misbranded" if its labeling "is false or misleading in any particular." There is no private right of action under the statute." In July 2008, when answering the question of whether high fructose corn syrup ("HFCS") is natural, the FDA explained that it would not "restrict the use of the term 'natural' except on products that contain added color, synthetic substances and flavors." In doing so, the FDA continued to adhere to its position that its "longstanding policy on the use of the term 'natural' is that 'natural' means that nothing artificial (including artificial fiavors) or synthetic (including all color additives regardless of source) has been . . . added to a food that would not normally be expected to be in the food." The FDA also stated that it would make determinations on a case-by-case basis, as opposed to adopting a consistent, uniform policy."
 * "The term “natural” is the most frequently used assertion on new U.S. food products; products donning this label constituted nearly $22 billion of food industry sales in 2008. A recent poll reinforces corporations’ belief that “natural” is appealing to consumers, showing that 63% of consumers prefer products that have a “natural” label. This may be because 86% of the consumers polled expect that a “natural” label means that the processed food does not contain any artificial ingredients. Other studies show that consumers believe that the term “natural” communicates certain characteristics about the product: specifically, that “natural” products are pure, clean, and healthy. Many consumers, however, remain unaware that the term “natural” is currently unregulated and undefined in the food industry."
 * "The strongest motivations for consuming organic vegetables are that they are produced without synthetic pesticides, are better for the environment, healthier, of higher quality and taste better. The strongest perceived barriers are overly high prices and lack of availability."
 * "We measured the impact of price information on EP by comparing the mean reported liking rating for wines 1 and 2 when administered at a high vs. a low price. This offers the interpretation that the participant's taste experience is a combination of the actual sensory input as well as the participant's taste expectations. In the experiment the price tag seemed to awaken expectations that were sufficient to influence the resulting overall taste experience to cause what is essentially a Placebo effect."

FDA

 * "Unknown to most consumers, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration does not regulate “all natural” food labels. Manufacturers commonly abuse this loophole by placing the “all natural” label on products that are clearly not “all natural.” Once the privity obstacle is removed, plaintiffs will be able to pursue breach of contract claims against manufacturers and the “all natural” food label will be a term of the contract. Manufacturers should not be permitted to exploit consumer preferences by intentionally mislabeling their products and escaping any real ramifications."
 * "Topics discussed include efforts of the U.S. Congress in making laws related to natural foods, powers of the food industry or retailers for the establishment of natural food standards and role of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in defining the standards of the food safety." So here, we can look at the history of efforts being made to try and establish natural food standards and the successes and failures of these efforts. Looks into the history of the marketing of natural foods.
 * "Topics discussed include signifying the absence of artificial or synthetic substances in the natural food, misleading guidelines of the FDA for the recognition of class action for natural foods and the lawsuits filed against food companies for misleading the consumers."Just more evidence to show the lack of food labeling regulations from the FDA.
 * "In July 2016, Congress passed and the President signed the “National BioengineeredFood Disclosure Standard,” which pre-empts state action (including Vermont) and requires that a disclosure such as a “text, symbol, or electronic or digital link” or “other reasonable disclosure options” be placed on genetically engineered food. Prior to this, on November 19, 2015, the FDA de-regulated the first GMO/GE animal, AquAdvantage salmon. At the same time, the FDA acknowledged that many consumers want to know if food is derived from GMO/GE technology or not, thus upon the de-regulation of the salmon, the FDA issued two guidance documents regarding voluntary labeling."

Food Companies

 * "There is some legal requirement on the the use of calorie‐specific claims, but there is no legal control on claims to nature. Some claims, for example, “natural goodness” on a cereal bar, may therefore be considered meaningless and unverifiable. A jam may have a label stating “natural colour” but that colour may not have come from the same fruit as the named jam, but from another natural product."