What consumers want

Consumers are a well-studied group in our industry. What they prefer and ask for has changed. When I began in the dairy sector (nearly 21 years ago now), sustainability was not an issue, but it has evolved to a key component of the ways processors and farmers interact with the end user. Not everybody reads the labels, but everyone now expects a firm to be moving towards carbon dioxide reduction and overall emissions abatement. Not only within the company, but up and down its supply chain. We are now all well versed in Scope 1, 2 and 3 measures to ease the environmental impact as a sector.

Which makes for interesting reading is how many companies have had to recall infant formulas, due to the contamination issues from one supplier. All the majors have seen batch recalls due to the one supplier, Cabio Biotech, which provided the arachidonic acid (ARA) oil to the majority of the infant formula producers, including suppliers ranging from Nestlé to Lactalis to Danone. The possible contamination by cereulide – a toxin produced by Bacillus cereus – seems to have affected some infants in the UK with illness, but this recall is global. Perhaps having more than one supplier would be a solution, or reformulating the products yet again to exclude ARA.

The issue of traceability, although not as common as in other food products (like fast foods and chocolate), will no doubt be more prevalent in the infant formula sector. Where are all the ingredients for the product coming from and why are they in those products in the first place? What working conditions are surrounding the people who make these products?

Consumers are asking more about the actual process of processing. As is usual with a set of foods that most people have in their refrigerators, dairy is going to be the first up for more examination, I suspect. So we all need to be able to provide the consumer with clear, simple answers. I think we can manage that.

• Suzanne Christiansen, editor, Dairy Industries International.
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