Industry Ranks Food Safety No. 2 Global Concern

The Consumer Goods Forum released its 2011 Top of Mind Survey that reveals the food and product safety is the No. 2 priority for the global food and beverage industry. Ranked No. 4 in 2010, the category Food & Product Safety includes standards, traceability and consumer confidence.

The survey is based on a sample of 443 decision-makers in the consumer goods companies across 45 countries In the overall industry ranking, corporate responsibility rose one place to take the top position, displacing the economy and consumer demand, which fell two places to No. 3. Food and product safety climbed two places, driven by the manufacturing and service sectors. By contrast, the competitive landscape tumbled four places to rank seventh overall. Consumer marketing also diminished in importance, falling by three places to rank 11th overall.

There was little change in priority from the retail sector where the economy remained the chief concern. The retail/brand offer and corporate responsibility exchanged positions, with the latter moving up one place. Last year saw big retailers finally winning share back from the European discounters, which were on the back foot in 2010. A major push in format innovation and price positioning from big retail was the chief driver. With the trend reversed, retailers can more time into their sustainability work.

The manufacturing sector saw more dynamic movement. Corporate responsibility and human resources both jumped three places to rank first and seventh respectively. The prime mover was the competitive landscape, which plummeted from third to 11th place, indicating that the threat of private label, the development of new channels and growth by acquisition are almost the last things on manufacturers’ minds. Collaboration between trading partners also was less important this year, along with consumer marketing.

Manufacturers seem more concerned with food and product safety, nutrition and consumer health, which gained in importance this year. They voted food and product safety up two places to rank third, while retailers held steady at fifth place. It comes in at second place overall and at third place excluding service providers and associations, including certification bodies.

The major stories in the review period involved the recall of half a billion eggs in the United States linked to Salmonella poisoning and meat and eggs from Germany tainted with dioxin.

Detailed concerns voiced in the survey’s qualitative data include the competence and consistency of food safety auditors; food fraud; vendors’ compliance with GFSI standards; installing an effective incident management culture; the burden of repeated auditing and the development of quality management standards in the food industry.