There′s much more to come in food security
wpn | October 26, 2012 | Comments (0)
http://www.worldpackagingnews.com/2012/10/there%C2%B4s-much-more-to-come-in-food-security/
There is no doubt that sustainability is one of the most commented issues in the packaging universe today. But professionals – and companies – also have another big concern: food safety and security. According to a recent study from Du Pont Packaging & Industrial Polymers, “the world is facing new threats to food safety due to climate change, the failure to address the problems in agriculture, lack of food and lack of solutions for sustainable approaches”.
The study also concluded that the 500 professionals interviewed expect that food packaging have a whole new set of environmental and performance requirements. As a consequence, public awareness will increase and continual improvement of performance will be required. The whole scenery has direct influence in sustainability; the issue is settled in a new context where it is fundamental to discuss avoiding food waste, increasing shelf life, etc.
Silverio Giesteira, from Du Pont Brazil, guarantees that by the end of 2020, the company will help the world to face the global food security challenge. How? First innovating to feed the world through a US$ 10 billion investment in Research & Development that should result in 4,000 new products.
The second step is to attract and educate the youngest with 2 million initiatives with them globally. And finally it is necessary to improve quality of life in rural communities, achieving, at least, 3 million agricultures by 2020.
To match these purposes, Du Pont actions are now based on the innovative Global Food Security Index, sponsored by the company and developed by Intelligence Unit of The Economist. First they defined the subject: “food security exists when people at all times have physical, social and economic access to sufficient and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs for a healthy and active life”.
As a result, the Global Food Security Index was launched globally on July 2012 in Washington (US), Brussels (Belgium), S?o Paulo (Brazil) and Johannesburg (South Africa). It ranks 105 countries according to their relative levels of food security and uses 25 indicators divided into three categories: Affordability and Financial Access; Availability; Quality and Safety.
The Index clearly intends to identify the factors affecting food security; the relationship between these factors; leading and lagging countries; how countries can improve food systems to reduce food insecurity, and priority areas for each country (eg. trade policy, infrastructure, agricultural R&D). Silverio Giesteira resumes: “This Index is the first to measure three internationally established dimensions of food security – availability, affordability and utilisation (called “Quality and Safety” in the index).
United States is ranked in the Index as the most food-secure country, followed by Denmark, Norway, France and Netherlands. What the best ranking countries have in common is ample food supply; high incomes; low spending on food relative to other outlays; and significant investment in agricultural R&D. The last five countries in the ranking are Madagascar, Haiti, Burundi, Chad and Congo. “Although, several of the sub-Saharan African countries that finished in the bottom third of the index will be among the world’s faster growing economies during the next two years”, resumes Giesteira.
82% consider regulations will have a greater influence on packaging design in 10 years;But besides the Index, Du Pont continues studying future behaviours that can impact in the packaging business. As mentioned in the beginning of this article, the futuristic study conducted with 500 professionals, detected:
81% say packaging will play more important role in products′ success until 2022;
65% thinks plastic will continue to replace metal and glass in packaging and that flexible structures will continue to replace rigid packaging structures;
53% of Europeans respondents (about 177 professionals) say that recycling concerns hinder the use of packaging structures that contain more than one material type.
About this, Shanna Moore, global sustainability director from DuPont US, declared: “One common theme throughout the survey is the need to maximize value with minimal impact.” She also believes the cost is being sacrificed for sustainability. “While affordability underscores everything we do, the message is clear: sustainability must be considered at the onset especially in light of expectations that the consumer will have even more value in it.”
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