GMO-free, palm oil-free. European consumers demand foods free from
GMO-free, palm oil-free. These are the essential demands of European consumers, who thus express attention to theintegrity of the supply chain and health. And it is pronounced
growing trend of foods
free from,
alongside the
superfoods
, those that contain substances considered beneficial. The research from Brussels, Zurich, and Milan.
GMO-free, palm oil-free. The final verdict
European consumers’ preferences toward free-from foods emerged in the study conducted by researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) and EUFIC, European Food Information Council, a Brussels-based nonprofit association funded by the European Commission and the European food and beverage industry.
The researchers surveyed 2,000 consumers in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Poland and France. By submitting to them, through an online survey, the labels of various widely consumed foods in both versions, with and without a free-from note:
– ‘GMO-free’ for oil, corn and chocolate,
– ‘palm oil-free’ for margarines, spreads and chocolate ,
– ‘Lactose-free’ for cheese, milk and yogurt,
– ‘gluten-free‘
for bread, pasta and cookies.
A comparison that is, on closer inspection, incongruous in its premise. Because lactose and gluten cause food allergies and intolerances in susceptible individuals, while palm oil and GMOs are simply low-cost ingredients that everyone can do very well without.
I
free from
perceived as healthier
Responses to the survey made it clear that consumers-the younger ones especially-did not want to consume foods containing palm oil or GMOs, which are considered unhealthy. An even more stubborn position in Poland and France.
The positions of the
transalpine
are attributable, according to the researchers, to the hostility of national policies toward palm oil and GMOs. An erroneous consideration regarding the
Franken-food
, as the French government has admitted the release of the new GMOs into the environment.
Without prior risk assessments or approvals.
In Poland, on the other hand, caution would be more widespread toward foods that contain gluten and lactose, which are inexplicably considered less healthy than those that are free of them.
Individuals with less nutrition knowledge, according to the research, tend to place more trust toward free-from labels. Due to unfamiliarity in distinguishing food properties with other news such as ingredient list and nutrition declaration.
A clear and strong signal
Europe does not want GMOs on the table. This should first be understood by operators who continue to use GMO feeds to feed the animals from which milk and cheese, meat and cured meats are derived. Not only first prices but also products of excellence, with attributes of typicality ranging from PDO and PGI to Km0 from Campagna Amica and surroundings.
As for palm oil.
, it is clear by now that European consumers do not want to know about it.
The sale of “palm oil-free” food
– indication
which the palmocrats have tried in vain to brand illegitimacy – has marked
in Italy
a jump of 17.6 percent in the year ended June 2017. (1) L‘s evidence is overwhelming, and it is spreading like wildfire throughout Europe. France, Spain, Switzerland and Sweden, to name a few countries.
A clear and strong signal that Big Food-a partner of the European Palm Oil Alliance that commissioned the study (2)-must take into account. So did the members of EUFIC, which participated in the study, which included major users of palm oil such as Abbott Nutrition, Bunge, Cargill, Cereal Partners, Coca-Cola, Dow Seeds, DSM, Ferrero, General Mills, Mondelēz Europe, Mars, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Pinar Et, Tereos, Ülker, and Unilever.
Dario Dongo and Marta Strinati
Notes
(1) According to the surveys carried out by Observatory
I imagine
Nielsen
–
GS1 Italy
on 46,600 consumer food products and published in February 2018
(2) On ScienceDirect
