September 26, 2023 • 27 mins
Did you ever consider that a bite of your favorite snack might be playing into the hands of big tobacco? Hold onto your shopping carts as we unravel the untold story of how tobacco industry giants have influenced the food we eat, creating hyper palatable products that are impossible to resist. We'll also take a hard look at the controversial idea of a city-owned grocery store in Chicago, and discuss why it's crucial to have the grocery industry run by those who understand it best.
But that's not all. We'll be serving up a plateful of insights on the alternative meats industry, exploring the promise and potential pitfalls of hybrid meats and cell-based agriculture. We'll dissect the role of Monell in personalizing medicine and reducing non-compliance and poisoning risks. And because it's not all doom and gloom, we'll round off our conversation by celebrating the enduring appeal of Martha Stewart. This episode is a smorgasbord of revelations you won't want to miss!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Phil (00:05):
Welcome to the Lempert Report Live.
On today's episode, How bigtobacco changed the food world?
Chicago wants in on thesupermarket business.
Is that a good idea?
NRDC issues its toilet paperreport card.
Is hybrid meat all it's crackedup to be, and is it safe?
A new test to predict kids'taste buds?
(00:27):
And on Food Not Phones, whatMartha Stewart has to say about
cell phones at the dinner table.
And on the Bullseye, it's allabout predicting food trends.
Let's get started.
Sally's off today.
So a report by the WashingtonPost came out last week, which
was really interesting.
(00:47):
It was based on new researchthat was published in the
journal Addiction, and itfocused on the rise of hyper
palatable foods, those thatcontain potent combinations of
fat, sodium, sugar and otheradditives that can drive people
to crave and to overeat them.
The addiction study found thatin the decades when the tobacco
(01:08):
companies owned the world'sleading food companies, the
foods that they sold were farmore likely to be hyper
palatable than similar foodsthat were not owned by tobacco
companies.
Uh-oh, let's see what it says.
Now, the steepest increase inthe prevalence of hyper
palatable foods occurred between1988 and 2001, when Philip
(01:32):
Morris and RJ Reynolds owned theworld's leading food companies.
They no longer own them, by theway, but they were engineered
by people who basicallyengineered cigarettes to become
addictive, and it was the samekind of strategy that they used.
So the lead author of thisstudy, Terry Fazino, who's an
(01:57):
assistant professor in theDepartment of Psychology at the
University of Kansas, found atthe University of California at
San Francisco's IndustryDocuments Library millions of
internal tobacco industrydocuments that shed light on how
the companies designed theirproducts to be addictive and the
strategies they used to marketthem.
(02:18):
They identified 105 foods thatwere among the best selling
products for brands owned byPhilip Morris or RJ Reynolds and
at that time, rjr owned theBisco, obviously, oreo cookies,
Teddy Grahams, rich Crackers andSnackwells, and Philip Morris
owned Kraft, general Foods,holycraft, mac and Cheese,
(02:42):
jell-o Kool-Aid and Oscar MeyerHot Dogs.
They compared the nutritionalmakeup of these foods to 587
similar products that were soldby competing brands that were
not owned by tobacco companies,and they found get this that
those that were owned by tobaccocompanies were 80% more likely
(03:02):
to contain potent combinationsof carbs and sodium that made
them hyper palatable.
Tobacco-owned brands were also29% more likely to contain
similarly potent combinations offat and sodium.
So, even though the tobaccocompanies don't own, you know,
(03:22):
craft anymore and general millsand so on, general foods.
Sorry, the reality is that alot of these formulas still are
the same.
Even though the tobaccocompanies divested themselves of
the food brands, it doesn'tmean that somebody went back in
and reformulated them.
So, for example, luchables byOscar Meyer, introduced in 1988,
(03:49):
contained so much sodium andsaturated fat that some doctors
called it a blood pressure bomb.
One Philip Morris executivejoked about references that the
healthiest item in a package ofLuchables was the napkin.
So what we really need to do ishave these brands that were
owned by the tobacco companiesreally investigate what their
(04:12):
nutritionals are, what theiringredients are, and it's time
for a reformulation.
So Chicago announced afeasibility study to explore the
idea of having a city-ownedgrocery store, as the South and
West Side grocers continue toclose.
And so what they're looking forand this is part of the
(04:33):
Economic Security Project anon-profit, what they're looking
for from the feds is $2 millionto do the research for this to
be the first municipally ownedgrocery store.
So I am all for grocery storesand food deserts.
Let's remember we had foodstores in grocery deserts and
(04:55):
food deserts, but they closed.
They closed because they werenot profitable.
They closed because two peopledidn't wanna work there because
they were concerned about theirown safety and security.
And number three, they closedbecause the people in that
community didn't shop in thosestores and didn't buy those
products.
So to me, this is a horribleidea.
(05:17):
Now I'll tell you why in aminute.
What we did see in Chicago is acompany Yellow Banana.
It's a majority minority ownedcompany that owns and operates
save a lot stores.
They received $13.5 million infunding and another $13 million
in new market tax credits to buyand revitalize six stores on
(05:39):
the South and West Side.
Some of them have closed, butYellow Banana has come under
fire from activists who say thatthe save a lot discount stores
they operate or uncleanroutinely marked spoiled produce
.
They also faced criticism whenit took over a whole food space
that closed in late 2022 afterreceiving $11 million in city
(06:04):
funds to open up that store.
Now the thing to know aboutYellow Banana is again these are
not grocery people.
These are investment bankerswho basically came in, took the
money and decided that what theywere gonna do is open up a
grocery store.
Hey, chicago, this is not theway to do it.
What you wanna do?
(06:24):
Is you wanna do similar to whatJeff Brown did in Philadelphia,
where he got federal support toopen up stores and food deserts
?
But Jeff Brown is a shop rightowner.
He understands the grocerybusiness and I'm not suggesting
that Jeff needs to expand toChicago.
But we need people in thegrocery business to operate
(06:46):
grocery stores.
This is a very complicatedbusiness, there's no question
about that.
Whether it's a supply chain,whether it's staffing, whether
it's hiring, whether it'sslicing deli meat, you can't
just have Chicago, as a city,open up a supermarket and have
it successful.
In fact, the one that I thoughtmight've been successful was
(07:07):
when Salvation Army opened up astore in the Washington DC area
in a food desert.
Salvation Army has been dealingwith food banks forever and I
thought they might make it Well.
That store closed.
So let's let grocers run storesand not cities run stores.
(07:29):
Natural Resources DefenseCouncil, NRDC, just issued their
toilet paper scorecard.
Who knew that there was atoilet paper scorecard?
So what they found is onemillion acres of the climate
critical Canadian forest areclear cut each year in part to
make the ultimate disposablesingle use item toilet paper.
(07:51):
Toilet paper made with recycledcontent, as one third of the
carbon footprint of toilet papermade from trees.
So obviously, excuse me, whatNRDC is urging us to do is use
recycled toilet paper because tosave forests and just to be
more environmentally friendlyand hose the water and after all
(08:14):
, it is toilet paper.
So what they found is ProcterGamble, kimberly Clark and
Georgia Pacific the three majorproducers of toilet paper all
earned the grade of F Across alltheir flagship brands, like
Charmin, contnell, quilted,northern.
Across all five editions ofwhat NRGC was studying, they
(08:39):
scored 145 tissue products inthree categories toilet paper,
paper towels and facial tissue.
Of these 145 products, 20received an A grade, 15 received
an A plus, with brands that usepost-consumer recycled content.
They also evaluated 63 toiletpaper brands.
(09:01):
13 toilet papers were made withrecycled materials got an A or
an A plus.
That's Trader Joe's 365 byWhole Foods.
Market, natural Value and GreenForest got the top spots and,
as I said, the major brands thatwe're used to seeing on TV
advertising.
They all got an F.
(09:21):
If you want more information,just head to NRDC's website and
you could see the entire study.
Hybrid meat is really one thingthat people are looking at very,
very carefully, as cellularagriculture isn't as stalled as
plant-based.
You know, plant-based isstalled.
(09:42):
What a lot of people are sayingis that hybrid meat, where you
combine whether it's plant-basedwith real meat or cellular
agriculture with real meat,could be what we go for, because
from a taste standpoint, justfrom a psychological standpoint
so that phrase now called hybridmeat, and what they're saying
(10:06):
and this was released at theNational Association of State
Departments of Agriculture 2023annual meeting the members
advocated for standards thatensure clear and consistent
labeling for cell-based meatproducts.
That's a must have for all ofus.
They also analyzed impossibleburger and found that its carbon
(10:31):
footprint is 89% smaller than aburger made from beef.
It also uses 87% less water and96% less land.
But it doesn't stop there,because a lot of these products,
including impossible, containmore sodium than animal meats,
sometimes up to six times asmuch, and also a lot of the
(10:55):
energy use from thesebioreactors, especially as it
relates to cellular agriculture,use more energy.
So you've gotta do thistrade-off here.
We're concerned about methanegas from cows, we're concerned
about that animal footprint, butyet these bioreactors take a
lot more energy than anythingelse that is in business right
(11:22):
now.
So what they're saying is let'sgo hybrid.
What we do know is thesealternative sources.
Bypassing the cow, you bypass alot of food safety problems.
That's one of the concerns, aswe have recall after recall as
(11:42):
it relates to E coli.
If you're buying plant-based,if you're buying cellular
agriculture, you avoid that, andalso one of the reasons for
that and we've talked a lotabout that here is you pick up
some ground beef and that comesfrom not a single cow, but it
could come from different cows,actually even in different
(12:03):
countries, whether it's Mexico,canada or the US, and they're
all pulled together and that'sone of the reasons that we have
these food safety nightmares.
So the other results of whatthey did and this is in a food
publication called Food SafetyAspects of Cell-Based Foods they
found that there's problems andnegative health consequences
(12:27):
which include contamination withheavy metals, microplastics,
nanoplastics, allergens such asadditives to improve the taste
and texture of these products,chemical contaminants, toxic
components, antibiotics andprions.
Then, in 2019, there was astudy done in Oxford that showed
the production is veryintensive, very energy intensive
(12:51):
.
These bio-reactors could haveworse long-term environmental
consequences than livestockfarming when looking at CO2
emissions.
So we haven't come up with thesolution, which is why one of
the reasons that plant-based.
I was just at Expo East lastweek.
I didn't see any plant-basedmeat products there.
(13:12):
I saw a lot of plant-basedbeverages, plant-based cosmetics
, but no plant-based meat.
So the jury's still out,whether it's hybrid, whether
it's cellular, whether it'splant-based, whether it's beef
from a cow.
We still haven't solved thisproblem, and one of the reasons
that, or one of the outcomesthat I get from this, is,
(13:36):
regardless of where the meatcomes from, we probably and this
has been in the dietaryguidelines for years we probably
just need to consume less meat.
I don't care where it comesfrom, whether it's a cow or a
bioreactor.
Let's just start cutting downmeat.
In general, could we know weovereat meat and really rely on
(13:58):
other protein sources, whetherit's plant-based protein,
whether it's seafood or the like, in order to help solve this
problem?
That's one of the things thatwe really need to focus on and
really need to do.
In Philadelphia there's a greatcompany called Monell and what
they do is they focus on tasteand creating taste markers, and
(14:23):
it's a sensory company whetherit's sight, sound and really
help food companies developproducts that are proper for
consumption.
So they now have a new study.
Julie Minella, phd from Monell,has identified a wide variation
(14:47):
in the sensory perception of apediatric formulation of
ibuprofen, and some that weretied to genetic ancestry and
some that were not, and why thisis important is there's so many
kids' medications that containibuprofen that what they wanna
do is really make it morepalatable for these kids.
(15:09):
Bitter taste and irritatingsensations in the throat, or the
top reasons for non-compliance,as a child at adult is less
likely to ingest a medicinethat's unpleasant or taste bad.
However, I'll take issue withthis, going back to our
grandparents day, where it wascob liver oil that they would
(15:33):
have consumed for whatever illsthat they might have.
Maybe what we wanna do is wewanna avoid these kids and adult
medications that taste likecandy, because what we find, and
what Monell found, is that if achild finds a medicine bottle
(15:57):
uncapped and it tastes sweetlike candy, they consume it.
They consume too much of it.
So what we really need to do istake this kind of data, this
kind of research that's beingdone, and really make it in a
way that is good for consumers,not just making everything like
(16:18):
Nyquil tasting sweet, like candyand cherry flavored and so on,
because what we know is peoplefrankly consume too much.
What they found is Manila saysit's a small study, but it's the
first step in showing howresearch on diverse populations
is needed to be able to unravelthe genetic, cultural, dietary
(16:41):
and developmental paths thatunderlie medicine adherence and
also risk for poisoning.
Basically, personalization.
So let's just think about myDNA being able to personalize
any kind of medication that Imight need and doing it that way
, that's the level that we'regetting to and that's the
(17:03):
promise of personalization, aswe're really getting much more
steeped into science and havingpeople like Monell do this.
So great work.
On Food not Phones.
Today it's all about MarthaStewart.
So Martha obviously a greatbrand, a great image.
(17:24):
A friend for many years, talkedabout what people should do with
their cell phones and thequestion is is it rude to use
your cell phone at the dinnertable?
So what she says is talking onyour phone when you're in
someone's home is a no-no.
She admitted that cell phoneusage at a table in a private
(17:47):
home is rude, with the caveatthat this rule pertains
specifically to individual homesrather than large-scale
gatherings.
And that's interesting to me,because dinners at big events,
she says, like award ceremonies,are fair game for phone use
because of our busy schedules,overlapping commitments.
So she's saying, if you're outand about, yeah, use your cell
(18:13):
phone.
If you're at an award dinner,if you're gonna be invited to
the Oscars this year, okay, youcan use your cell phone.
But if you're going tosomebody's house, that's a no-no
.
So Daniel Post Seeming, who'sthe writer of Emily Post
Etiquette, told the WashingtonPost he can pay real dividends
(18:33):
if you put down your phoneduring dinner getting to know
people and avoidingunintentional rudeness.
And also, what Daniel says isguests barely realize they're on
their phones, glancing at themor responding to message out of
sheer habit.
So it should be remembered aswell that it may not be
someone's intention to be rude,but it's best for all parties
(18:57):
just to put down the phone andsave the calls, text and
FaceTimes for after the meal.
So that's Food, not Phones.
Make sure you go toFoodNotPhonescom.
Our next challenge is gonna beon Thanksgiving, and the clock
is ticking now for Thanksgiving.
So look for a lot more on FoodNot Phones.
Check out our social media onFood Not Phones and also on
(19:20):
Supermarket Guru to get thelatest news on it.
On Lost in the Supermarket, Ispoke with Chip Carter, founder
of CBC3 Media and the creator,producer and host of the
evocative TV show when the FoodComes From.
Together we navigated the hardtruths about farming and its
future.
For the complete interview,just log on to
(19:42):
supermarketgurucom.
Here's what he had to say.
It's the problem when we lookat monoculture that it's just
easier for farmers to do that,you know, or the seed companies,
or whatever.
How do we move away from whatyou're describing, which saves
(20:05):
our food supply, gives us bettertasting products, gives us
safer products?
How do we move?
Chip (20:11):
that we keep encouraging that diversity.
That is what started this wholeconversation.
What the retailer ultimatelydecides to put on their shelves
is up to them and certainly, asyou of all people know, what
decides that is what the peoplebuy and what the people go to
them and say they want.
Most farmers and most crops arealready aware enough to
(20:34):
practice to not practicemonoculture.
I'll give you a perfect exampleabout a Vidalia onion Fantastic
, wonderful.
One of my favorite things, oneof my favorite stories, is a
Vidalia onion.
There's not just one variety ofVidalia onion.
They plant 45 differentvarieties of Vidalia onion.
(20:56):
You would never know to look atone taste, one smell, one cook
with one, that it was adifferent variety from the one
sitting next to it.
They do that to maintaindiversity in the crop, to
protect from diseases and pests,and also some of the varieties
might bear earlier.
They might come up, might beready two weeks before a
(21:18):
different one, Of course, in anyseason.
Now what a farmer is trying todo is stagger that they're
harvest, so you don't geteverything it wants and have to
deal with it, but you have aflow that you can manage and
supply the marketplace.
I think we're always going toneed variety of development.
It's a critical part ofagriculture.
Will it be part of our realworld in the supermarket moving
(21:41):
forward?
I don't think so, but I thinkthere are probably different
pressures that are about toreshape the mix of the skews and
what's on the shelf in oursupermarkets and the two things
that are impacting that aregoing to be food miles, food
waste and the public opinionthat is starting to gather and
(22:04):
is going to become a force.
As regards food miles and foodwaste, whether we want to change
the system or not, they'reabout to make us change the
system.
Phil (22:16):
On the bullseye.
Everyone wants to be able topredict food trends, but it's
not that simple.
As Americans become morediverse demographically,
economically and socially, it'scritical that we do a deep dive
into segmenting eachgeneration's preference and
understand that the days of agreat food product that everyone
loves and buys is long gone.
(22:37):
Sorry.
P&g DataCentral developed a newreport using its consumer
preferences proprietary databaseto give us a glimpse of just
how food preferences haveshifted over time.
But before we dig into thisreport, let's do some food
generation history.
To kick things off, let'sbriefly outline the generations.
(23:00):
There's Baby Boomers, gen X,millennials and Generation Z.
Baby Boomers that were bornbetween 1946 and 1964 came of
age in a post-war era.
Generation X followed them from1965 to 1980 and experienced
the rise of modern technology.
Millennials from 1981 to 1996came of age during the tech boom
(23:24):
, while Generation Z, born in1997 and up, are the digital
natives.
Baby Boomers broughtconvenience foods like TV
dinners and fast food chains.
Generation X saw a fusion ofinternational cuisines.
Millennials, with their healthconsciousness and tech
sobbingness, ushered in organicfood, meal kits and food
(23:45):
delivery apps.
Generation Z is all aboutplant-based diets,
sustainability and globalflavors.
So, considering all theseshifts, how can we predict
future trends?
Well, number one we have tostudy generation values.
For example, if Generation Zprioritized sustainability, we
can expect more eco-friendlypackaging or farm-to-table
(24:08):
concepts.
It's all about aligning withthe core values, their heart and
soul, of each generation.
As we look at emerging trends,we're seeing a rise in virtual
dining experiences, ai generatedrecipes and personalized
nutrition thanks to thetech-driven Generation Z and
younger Alpha generation.
(24:28):
The emphasis today is onexperience, technology and
personal health.
Back to the data-essentialreport.
Now here are some of thehighlights that they found.
Spices and sauces set the stagefor consumers to become more
comfortable with new foods andnew cuisines.
For consumers, these flavors,no matter what part of the globe
(24:51):
they come from, help bridge thegap in the introduction to new
cuisines.
Now don't count out olderconsumers.
Data-essential says the babyboomers are catching up with
younger consumers in terms offood trend awareness, and that's
across nearly all categories inthe supermarket.
Boomers are a group for thefood industry to reconsider
(25:15):
focusing on, as they appear tobe using their retirement monies
and time to indulge a passionfor food.
Maybe we're going to see babyboomer cooking schools, why not?
Millennials, dubbed the foodiegeneration, are aware of new
food trends but aren'tnecessarily loyal to those
trends.
Once they experience them,they're on to the next one, and
(25:38):
the next one, and the next one.
While having a new food productcan get noticed on a menu or
supermarket shelf is half thebattle, a sole focus on this
generation may not offer desiredbrand loyalties.
Boomers and Gen X tend to takemore time to become aware of new
trends they're not a Spanishbut once they do, they rate
(25:59):
their affinity of consumers wholove or like higher than
millennials do.
Because of this, generation Xtends to be a key demographic to
focus on for the proliferationstage trends or those trends
that have been adapted frommainstream appeal.
Now here's the top line.
No consumers are alike and intheir era of data, data, data to
(26:25):
succeed you must target andknow your consumers before you
try to sell them.
Of course, let's head to the Q&A.
John Pandol is with us, asalways.
John, thanks for your comment.
He says perhaps Chicago shouldconsider nonprofits to own and
operate the stores, theSalvation Army store in inner
city Baltimore being a model.
(26:46):
My visit not just a greatlittle store but a great job
training and mentoring of localyoung by who I assumed were
retired grocers.
John, you're a thousand percentcorrect.
There's no question about it.
Let's take these retired grocerworkforce, do a nonprofit in
Chicago, but have them operateand train it, because if we rely
(27:10):
on the city and the mayor kudosto the mayor for wanting to do
this, but it's a differentbusiness than running a city
government Let the grocers dotheir job.
Thanks for joining us, John,thanks all of you for joining us
and we'll see you next week.
Welcome to the Lempert Report Live.
On today's episode, How bigtobacco changed the food world?
Chicago wants in on thesupermarket business.
Is that a good idea?
NRDC issues its toilet paperreport card.
Is hybrid meat all it's crackedup to be, and is it safe?
A new test to predict kids'taste buds?
(00:27):
And on Food Not Phones, whatMartha Stewart has to say about
cell phones at the dinner table.
And on the Bullseye, it's allabout predicting food trends.
Let's get started.
Sally's off today.
So a report by the WashingtonPost came out last week, which
was really interesting.
(00:47):
It was based on new researchthat was published in the
journal Addiction, and itfocused on the rise of hyper
palatable foods, those thatcontain potent combinations of
fat, sodium, sugar and otheradditives that can drive people
to crave and to overeat them.
The addiction study found thatin the decades when the tobacco
(01:08):
companies owned the world'sleading food companies, the
foods that they sold were farmore likely to be hyper
palatable than similar foodsthat were not owned by tobacco
companies.
Uh-oh, let's see what it says.
Now, the steepest increase inthe prevalence of hyper
palatable foods occurred between1988 and 2001, when Philip
(01:32):
Morris and RJ Reynolds owned theworld's leading food companies.
They no longer own them, by theway, but they were engineered
by people who basicallyengineered cigarettes to become
addictive, and it was the samekind of strategy that they used.
So the lead author of thisstudy, Terry Fazino, who's an
(01:57):
assistant professor in theDepartment of Psychology at the
University of Kansas, found atthe University of California at
San Francisco's IndustryDocuments Library millions of
internal tobacco industrydocuments that shed light on how
the companies designed theirproducts to be addictive and the
strategies they used to marketthem.
(02:18):
They identified 105 foods thatwere among the best selling
products for brands owned byPhilip Morris or RJ Reynolds and
at that time, rjr owned theBisco, obviously, oreo cookies,
Teddy Grahams, rich Crackers andSnackwells, and Philip Morris
owned Kraft, general Foods,holycraft, mac and Cheese,
(02:42):
jell-o Kool-Aid and Oscar MeyerHot Dogs.
They compared the nutritionalmakeup of these foods to 587
similar products that were soldby competing brands that were
not owned by tobacco companies,and they found get this that
those that were owned by tobaccocompanies were 80% more likely
(03:02):
to contain potent combinationsof carbs and sodium that made
them hyper palatable.
Tobacco-owned brands were also29% more likely to contain
similarly potent combinations offat and sodium.
So, even though the tobaccocompanies don't own, you know,
(03:22):
craft anymore and general millsand so on, general foods.
Sorry, the reality is that alot of these formulas still are
the same.
Even though the tobaccocompanies divested themselves of
the food brands, it doesn'tmean that somebody went back in
and reformulated them.
So, for example, luchables byOscar Meyer, introduced in 1988,
(03:49):
contained so much sodium andsaturated fat that some doctors
called it a blood pressure bomb.
One Philip Morris executivejoked about references that the
healthiest item in a package ofLuchables was the napkin.
So what we really need to do ishave these brands that were
owned by the tobacco companiesreally investigate what their
(04:12):
nutritionals are, what theiringredients are, and it's time
for a reformulation.
So Chicago announced afeasibility study to explore the
idea of having a city-ownedgrocery store, as the South and
West Side grocers continue toclose.
And so what they're looking forand this is part of the
(04:33):
Economic Security Project anon-profit, what they're looking
for from the feds is $2 millionto do the research for this to
be the first municipally ownedgrocery store.
So I am all for grocery storesand food deserts.
Let's remember we had foodstores in grocery deserts and
(04:55):
food deserts, but they closed.
They closed because they werenot profitable.
They closed because two peopledidn't wanna work there because
they were concerned about theirown safety and security.
And number three, they closedbecause the people in that
community didn't shop in thosestores and didn't buy those
products.
So to me, this is a horribleidea.
(05:17):
Now I'll tell you why in aminute.
What we did see in Chicago is acompany Yellow Banana.
It's a majority minority ownedcompany that owns and operates
save a lot stores.
They received $13.5 million infunding and another $13 million
in new market tax credits to buyand revitalize six stores on
(05:39):
the South and West Side.
Some of them have closed, butYellow Banana has come under
fire from activists who say thatthe save a lot discount stores
they operate or uncleanroutinely marked spoiled produce
.
They also faced criticism whenit took over a whole food space
that closed in late 2022 afterreceiving $11 million in city
(06:04):
funds to open up that store.
Now the thing to know aboutYellow Banana is again these are
not grocery people.
These are investment bankerswho basically came in, took the
money and decided that what theywere gonna do is open up a
grocery store.
Hey, chicago, this is not theway to do it.
What you wanna do?
(06:24):
Is you wanna do similar to whatJeff Brown did in Philadelphia,
where he got federal support toopen up stores and food deserts
?
But Jeff Brown is a shop rightowner.
He understands the grocerybusiness and I'm not suggesting
that Jeff needs to expand toChicago.
But we need people in thegrocery business to operate
(06:46):
grocery stores.
This is a very complicatedbusiness, there's no question
about that.
Whether it's a supply chain,whether it's staffing, whether
it's hiring, whether it'sslicing deli meat, you can't
just have Chicago, as a city,open up a supermarket and have
it successful.
In fact, the one that I thoughtmight've been successful was
(07:07):
when Salvation Army opened up astore in the Washington DC area
in a food desert.
Salvation Army has been dealingwith food banks forever and I
thought they might make it Well.
That store closed.
So let's let grocers run storesand not cities run stores.
(07:29):
Natural Resources DefenseCouncil, NRDC, just issued their
toilet paper scorecard.
Who knew that there was atoilet paper scorecard?
So what they found is onemillion acres of the climate
critical Canadian forest areclear cut each year in part to
make the ultimate disposablesingle use item toilet paper.
(07:51):
Toilet paper made with recycledcontent, as one third of the
carbon footprint of toilet papermade from trees.
So obviously, excuse me, whatNRDC is urging us to do is use
recycled toilet paper because tosave forests and just to be
more environmentally friendlyand hose the water and after all
(08:14):
, it is toilet paper.
So what they found is ProcterGamble, kimberly Clark and
Georgia Pacific the three majorproducers of toilet paper all
earned the grade of F Across alltheir flagship brands, like
Charmin, contnell, quilted,northern.
Across all five editions ofwhat NRGC was studying, they
(08:39):
scored 145 tissue products inthree categories toilet paper,
paper towels and facial tissue.
Of these 145 products, 20received an A grade, 15 received
an A plus, with brands that usepost-consumer recycled content.
They also evaluated 63 toiletpaper brands.
(09:01):
13 toilet papers were made withrecycled materials got an A or
an A plus.
That's Trader Joe's 365 byWhole Foods.
Market, natural Value and GreenForest got the top spots and,
as I said, the major brands thatwe're used to seeing on TV
advertising.
They all got an F.
(09:21):
If you want more information,just head to NRDC's website and
you could see the entire study.
Hybrid meat is really one thingthat people are looking at very,
very carefully, as cellularagriculture isn't as stalled as
plant-based.
You know, plant-based isstalled.
(09:42):
What a lot of people are sayingis that hybrid meat, where you
combine whether it's plant-basedwith real meat or cellular
agriculture with real meat,could be what we go for, because
from a taste standpoint, justfrom a psychological standpoint
so that phrase now called hybridmeat, and what they're saying
(10:06):
and this was released at theNational Association of State
Departments of Agriculture 2023annual meeting the members
advocated for standards thatensure clear and consistent
labeling for cell-based meatproducts.
That's a must have for all ofus.
They also analyzed impossibleburger and found that its carbon
(10:31):
footprint is 89% smaller than aburger made from beef.
It also uses 87% less water and96% less land.
But it doesn't stop there,because a lot of these products,
including impossible, containmore sodium than animal meats,
sometimes up to six times asmuch, and also a lot of the
(10:55):
energy use from thesebioreactors, especially as it
relates to cellular agriculture,use more energy.
So you've gotta do thistrade-off here.
We're concerned about methanegas from cows, we're concerned
about that animal footprint, butyet these bioreactors take a
lot more energy than anythingelse that is in business right
(11:22):
now.
So what they're saying is let'sgo hybrid.
What we do know is thesealternative sources.
Bypassing the cow, you bypass alot of food safety problems.
That's one of the concerns, aswe have recall after recall as
(11:42):
it relates to E coli.
If you're buying plant-based,if you're buying cellular
agriculture, you avoid that, andalso one of the reasons for
that and we've talked a lotabout that here is you pick up
some ground beef and that comesfrom not a single cow, but it
could come from different cows,actually even in different
(12:03):
countries, whether it's Mexico,canada or the US, and they're
all pulled together and that'sone of the reasons that we have
these food safety nightmares.
So the other results of whatthey did and this is in a food
publication called Food SafetyAspects of Cell-Based Foods they
found that there's problems andnegative health consequences
(12:27):
which include contamination withheavy metals, microplastics,
nanoplastics, allergens such asadditives to improve the taste
and texture of these products,chemical contaminants, toxic
components, antibiotics andprions.
Then, in 2019, there was astudy done in Oxford that showed
the production is veryintensive, very energy intensive
(12:51):
.
These bio-reactors could haveworse long-term environmental
consequences than livestockfarming when looking at CO2
emissions.
So we haven't come up with thesolution, which is why one of
the reasons that plant-based.
I was just at Expo East lastweek.
I didn't see any plant-basedmeat products there.
(13:12):
I saw a lot of plant-basedbeverages, plant-based cosmetics
, but no plant-based meat.
So the jury's still out,whether it's hybrid, whether
it's cellular, whether it'splant-based, whether it's beef
from a cow.
We still haven't solved thisproblem, and one of the reasons
that, or one of the outcomesthat I get from this, is,
(13:36):
regardless of where the meatcomes from, we probably and this
has been in the dietaryguidelines for years we probably
just need to consume less meat.
I don't care where it comesfrom, whether it's a cow or a
bioreactor.
Let's just start cutting downmeat.
In general, could we know weovereat meat and really rely on
(13:58):
other protein sources, whetherit's plant-based protein,
whether it's seafood or the like, in order to help solve this
problem?
That's one of the things thatwe really need to focus on and
really need to do.
In Philadelphia there's a greatcompany called Monell and what
they do is they focus on tasteand creating taste markers, and
(14:23):
it's a sensory company whetherit's sight, sound and really
help food companies developproducts that are proper for
consumption.
So they now have a new study.
Julie Minella, phd from Monell,has identified a wide variation
(14:47):
in the sensory perception of apediatric formulation of
ibuprofen, and some that weretied to genetic ancestry and
some that were not, and why thisis important is there's so many
kids' medications that containibuprofen that what they wanna
do is really make it morepalatable for these kids.
(15:09):
Bitter taste and irritatingsensations in the throat, or the
top reasons for non-compliance,as a child at adult is less
likely to ingest a medicinethat's unpleasant or taste bad.
However, I'll take issue withthis, going back to our
grandparents day, where it wascob liver oil that they would
(15:33):
have consumed for whatever illsthat they might have.
Maybe what we wanna do is wewanna avoid these kids and adult
medications that taste likecandy, because what we find, and
what Monell found, is that if achild finds a medicine bottle
(15:57):
uncapped and it tastes sweetlike candy, they consume it.
They consume too much of it.
So what we really need to do istake this kind of data, this
kind of research that's beingdone, and really make it in a
way that is good for consumers,not just making everything like
(16:18):
Nyquil tasting sweet, like candyand cherry flavored and so on,
because what we know is peoplefrankly consume too much.
What they found is Manila saysit's a small study, but it's the
first step in showing howresearch on diverse populations
is needed to be able to unravelthe genetic, cultural, dietary
(16:41):
and developmental paths thatunderlie medicine adherence and
also risk for poisoning.
Basically, personalization.
So let's just think about myDNA being able to personalize
any kind of medication that Imight need and doing it that way
, that's the level that we'regetting to and that's the
(17:03):
promise of personalization, aswe're really getting much more
steeped into science and havingpeople like Monell do this.
So great work.
On Food not Phones.
Today it's all about MarthaStewart.
So Martha obviously a greatbrand, a great image.
(17:24):
A friend for many years, talkedabout what people should do with
their cell phones and thequestion is is it rude to use
your cell phone at the dinnertable?
So what she says is talking onyour phone when you're in
someone's home is a no-no.
She admitted that cell phoneusage at a table in a private
(17:47):
home is rude, with the caveatthat this rule pertains
specifically to individual homesrather than large-scale
gatherings.
And that's interesting to me,because dinners at big events,
she says, like award ceremonies,are fair game for phone use
because of our busy schedules,overlapping commitments.
So she's saying, if you're outand about, yeah, use your cell
(18:13):
phone.
If you're at an award dinner,if you're gonna be invited to
the Oscars this year, okay, youcan use your cell phone.
But if you're going tosomebody's house, that's a no-no
.
So Daniel Post Seeming, who'sthe writer of Emily Post
Etiquette, told the WashingtonPost he can pay real dividends
(18:33):
if you put down your phoneduring dinner getting to know
people and avoidingunintentional rudeness.
And also, what Daniel says isguests barely realize they're on
their phones, glancing at themor responding to message out of
sheer habit.
So it should be remembered aswell that it may not be
someone's intention to be rude,but it's best for all parties
(18:57):
just to put down the phone andsave the calls, text and
FaceTimes for after the meal.
So that's Food, not Phones.
Make sure you go toFoodNotPhonescom.
Our next challenge is gonna beon Thanksgiving, and the clock
is ticking now for Thanksgiving.
So look for a lot more on FoodNot Phones.
Check out our social media onFood Not Phones and also on
(19:20):
Supermarket Guru to get thelatest news on it.
On Lost in the Supermarket, Ispoke with Chip Carter, founder
of CBC3 Media and the creator,producer and host of the
evocative TV show when the FoodComes From.
Together we navigated the hardtruths about farming and its
future.
For the complete interview,just log on to
(19:42):
supermarketgurucom.
Here's what he had to say.
It's the problem when we lookat monoculture that it's just
easier for farmers to do that,you know, or the seed companies,
or whatever.
How do we move away from whatyou're describing, which saves
(20:05):
our food supply, gives us bettertasting products, gives us
safer products?
How do we move?
Chip (20:11):
that we keep encouraging that diversity.
That is what started this wholeconversation.
What the retailer ultimatelydecides to put on their shelves
is up to them and certainly, asyou of all people know, what
decides that is what the peoplebuy and what the people go to
them and say they want.
Most farmers and most crops arealready aware enough to
(20:34):
practice to not practicemonoculture.
I'll give you a perfect exampleabout a Vidalia onion Fantastic
, wonderful.
One of my favorite things, oneof my favorite stories, is a
Vidalia onion.
There's not just one variety ofVidalia onion.
They plant 45 differentvarieties of Vidalia onion.
(20:56):
You would never know to look atone taste, one smell, one cook
with one, that it was adifferent variety from the one
sitting next to it.
They do that to maintaindiversity in the crop, to
protect from diseases and pests,and also some of the varieties
might bear earlier.
They might come up, might beready two weeks before a
(21:18):
different one, Of course, in anyseason.
Now what a farmer is trying todo is stagger that they're
harvest, so you don't geteverything it wants and have to
deal with it, but you have aflow that you can manage and
supply the marketplace.
I think we're always going toneed variety of development.
It's a critical part ofagriculture.
Will it be part of our realworld in the supermarket moving
(21:41):
forward?
I don't think so, but I thinkthere are probably different
pressures that are about toreshape the mix of the skews and
what's on the shelf in oursupermarkets and the two things
that are impacting that aregoing to be food miles, food
waste and the public opinionthat is starting to gather and
(22:04):
is going to become a force.
As regards food miles and foodwaste, whether we want to change
the system or not, they'reabout to make us change the
system.
Phil (22:16):
On the bullseye.
Everyone wants to be able topredict food trends, but it's
not that simple.
As Americans become morediverse demographically,
economically and socially, it'scritical that we do a deep dive
into segmenting eachgeneration's preference and
understand that the days of agreat food product that everyone
loves and buys is long gone.
(22:37):
Sorry.
P&g DataCentral developed a newreport using its consumer
preferences proprietary databaseto give us a glimpse of just
how food preferences haveshifted over time.
But before we dig into thisreport, let's do some food
generation history.
To kick things off, let'sbriefly outline the generations.
(23:00):
There's Baby Boomers, gen X,millennials and Generation Z.
Baby Boomers that were bornbetween 1946 and 1964 came of
age in a post-war era.
Generation X followed them from1965 to 1980 and experienced
the rise of modern technology.
Millennials from 1981 to 1996came of age during the tech boom
(23:24):
, while Generation Z, born in1997 and up, are the digital
natives.
Baby Boomers broughtconvenience foods like TV
dinners and fast food chains.
Generation X saw a fusion ofinternational cuisines.
Millennials, with their healthconsciousness and tech
sobbingness, ushered in organicfood, meal kits and food
(23:45):
delivery apps.
Generation Z is all aboutplant-based diets,
sustainability and globalflavors.
So, considering all theseshifts, how can we predict
future trends?
Well, number one we have tostudy generation values.
For example, if Generation Zprioritized sustainability, we
can expect more eco-friendlypackaging or farm-to-table
(24:08):
concepts.
It's all about aligning withthe core values, their heart and
soul, of each generation.
As we look at emerging trends,we're seeing a rise in virtual
dining experiences, ai generatedrecipes and personalized
nutrition thanks to thetech-driven Generation Z and
younger Alpha generation.
(24:28):
The emphasis today is onexperience, technology and
personal health.
Back to the data-essentialreport.
Now here are some of thehighlights that they found.
Spices and sauces set the stagefor consumers to become more
comfortable with new foods andnew cuisines.
For consumers, these flavors,no matter what part of the globe
(24:51):
they come from, help bridge thegap in the introduction to new
cuisines.
Now don't count out olderconsumers.
Data-essential says the babyboomers are catching up with
younger consumers in terms offood trend awareness, and that's
across nearly all categories inthe supermarket.
Boomers are a group for thefood industry to reconsider
(25:15):
focusing on, as they appear tobe using their retirement monies
and time to indulge a passionfor food.
Maybe we're going to see babyboomer cooking schools, why not?
Millennials, dubbed the foodiegeneration, are aware of new
food trends but aren'tnecessarily loyal to those
trends.
Once they experience them,they're on to the next one, and
(25:38):
the next one, and the next one.
While having a new food productcan get noticed on a menu or
supermarket shelf is half thebattle, a sole focus on this
generation may not offer desiredbrand loyalties.
Boomers and Gen X tend to takemore time to become aware of new
trends they're not a Spanishbut once they do, they rate
(25:59):
their affinity of consumers wholove or like higher than
millennials do.
Because of this, generation Xtends to be a key demographic to
focus on for the proliferationstage trends or those trends
that have been adapted frommainstream appeal.
Now here's the top line.
No consumers are alike and intheir era of data, data, data to
(26:25):
succeed you must target andknow your consumers before you
try to sell them.
Of course, let's head to the Q&A.
John Pandol is with us, asalways.
John, thanks for your comment.
He says perhaps Chicago shouldconsider nonprofits to own and
operate the stores, theSalvation Army store in inner
city Baltimore being a model.
(26:46):
My visit not just a greatlittle store but a great job
training and mentoring of localyoung by who I assumed were
retired grocers.
John, you're a thousand percentcorrect.
There's no question about it.
Let's take these retired grocerworkforce, do a nonprofit in
Chicago, but have them operateand train it, because if we rely
(27:10):
on the city and the mayor kudosto the mayor for wanting to do
this, but it's a differentbusiness than running a city
government Let the grocers dotheir job.
Thanks for joining us, John,thanks all of you for joining us
and we'll see you next week.
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