Food Companies Put Their Supply Chains on the Menu: The State of Green Business 2010
By Joel Makower
Editor’s Note: To celebrate the launch of the third annual State of Green Business report, we will be highlighting over the next two weeks the 10 big trends that are shaping the future of the greening of mainstream business. You can download the report for free here, and read all 10 trends on GreenBiz.com.
The sustainability of food hasn’t traditionally been much of a mainstream consumer issue. Whatever concerns consumers had about the environmental impacts of bringing food to the table were eaten up by concerns over taste, price and nutrition, with some interest in pesticide residues and other safety- related matters. Overall, there hasn’t been much of an appetite from mainstream consumers about food companies’ sustainability practices.
But the agricultural and sourcing practices of Big Food have come under attack by activists. Moreover, some companies have seen that the supplies of raw materials — fish and seafood, in particular — are dwindling to the point that is threatening the financial sustainability of their operations. And like all industries, food processors have been under pressure to eliminate waste and inefficiency, and to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Read more…
Categories: Consumers, Green Business, Sustainability Tags: Agriculture, Consumers, Green Business, Sustainability
