The Grocery Manufacturers Association predicts that sustainability will become standard

The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) has highlighted its predictions for 2009, pronouncing it a year when sustainability will become standard.

Rebecca Pollack, lead editor of a special year-end report for GMA SmartBrief, which is information that targets executives in the food, beverage and consumer packaged goods industry, said:

“Sustainability will not only continue to gain prominence in the mainstream, but this year, some think it could even become a standard.”

She added that consumers will most likely continue to cut back on spending in 2009. This will prompt private labels and creative promotions to roll into the new year.

And with the Barack Obama administration and a Democratic-led Congress taking the reins in January, Pollack said that the Food and Drug Administration is likely to get more oversight of imports, and food safety legislation can be expected.

The GMA also released results of a poll of its members and supporters.

It asked what issues are expected to become even more important in 2009 and top of the list was food safety, which got 40 percent of the vote. This was followed by environmental sustainability (24 percent), health and wellness (14 percent), food labeling (12 percent) and food marketing (eight percent).

The GMA also asked which issue had the greatest impact on the respondents’ company in 2008.

Forty five percent said private-label brands, 21 percent said energy policy/biofuels,18 percent said food safety, ten percent environmental sustainability and three percent food-labeling legislation.

Meanwhile, the marketing trends that respondents said they expected to accelerate next year are shopper marketing (44 percent), web-based advertising/marketing (21 percent), localization (12 percent), ethnic marketing (11 percent) and guerrilla marketing/viral ads (ten percent).