Rolling into 2011, fast-food joints across the country are set to deploy a potent new arsenal of greasy goodness for Americans who have grown numb to mere burgers. Think spicier, cheesier, gooier. The new items flout principles of healthful eating and instead celebrate a spirit of wanton gluttony. So much for those New Year resolutions.
Find out just what Dunkin Donuts, Burger King, Papa Johns and Taco Bell are up to in a LA Times article.
PepsiCo is betting that consumers want to “snackify” drinks. I guess there’s one born every minute, but paying a premium for a new pureed fruit product instead of just eating a piece of fruit escapes me. Not only will the 80 calorie
fruit puree come in colorful pouches, but a four pack will go for $2.49 to $3.49. So how many organic apples can you buy for $3.50? It’s gotta be enough at one a day to keep the doctor away for a week and without the solid waste and carbon footprint.
Pepsico Chairman and Chief Executive Indra Nooyi is staking her reputation on building out the company’s “good-for-you” portfolio, uniting the Tropicana, Quaker and Gatorade units under one umbrella and expanding their product lines. Ms. Nooyi has said she wants to build the nutrition business to $30 billion from $10 billion by 2020 according to the Wall Street Journal.
I’m wondering how optimistic those projections are going to look once consumers wake up to the genetically modified 
ingredients in some of those “snackified” foods. If early indications from readers of our CSI Health Crimes: GMOs special report is any indication, once the truth is known, the uproar and anger may be just what we need to avoid Wally World after all. Maybe then those cheap introductory prices will quickly give way in the face of rising commodity prices – dairy prices are up 27%, grain is up 33%, coffee 32%, and fruits 62%.
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and predict that consumers will realize sooner than later that all the ‘processing’ they need for their food starts with eating it fresh.
