Dive Brief:
- Smithfield Foods launched a new ingredient glossary. It is the first pork processing company to make such a tool available to consumers, according to a news release.
- The glossary contains a list and descriptions for all the ingredients Smithfield uses in its products, nearly 100 in total.
- The launch corresponds with Smithfield's release of the Food Safety & Quality section of its 2015 Sustainability and Financial Report.
Dive Insight:
Transparency is a key trend in the food and beverage industry today as consumers demand to know more about what's in their food. Releasing this glossary is a major move for the meat industry, and it could encourage, if not pressure, other competitors to release their own.
However, ingredients are only one transparency concern that consumers have regarding the meat industry. More people have been paying close attention to animal welfare, particularly how animals are raised and later slaughtered.
Several meat companies have been targets of undercover investigations by animal welfare advocates that have yielded hidden camera footage showing potential mistreatment of animals. Perdue recently released a plan for sweeping poultry welfare reforms, which the company said have not been as costly as other processors may think.
An ingredient glossary is an important step. But if consumers are more concerned about animal welfare or issues like antibiotics used in food animals (and antibiotic-resistant superbugs), then Smithfield may have to focus its transparency efforts elsewhere.
Food and beverage manufacturers in other sectors have released ingredient glossaries as a move toward increased transparency, including PepsiCo, Hershey, and Enjoy Life Foods.