Consumers Increasingly Demand Simpler Food

The average number of items sold at a supermarket ballooned to more than 38,000 this year from 10,425 in 1977, according to the Food Marketing Institute. At the same time, however, an increasing number of consumers are demanding simplicity, prompting brands to trim ingredient lists or promote products as "natural," gluten-free or both. In this new era, large consumer-packaged-goods companies have lost some of the upper hand to retailers, which are armed with more consumer data thanks to loyalty cards, stated the director of innovation and insight for Mintel, reports Advertising Age.