Arlington, VA—FMI - the Food Industry Association published its 2024 Food Industry Contributions to Health and Well-being report, a collection of insights from both retailers and product suppliers on consumer trends. The survey, which was conducted in October 2023, points to nutrition and overall health as the top focuses of the year.
"Healthy eating has clearly become a priority for shoppers, and the grocery store continues to evolve as an accessible, community-based destination for health and well-being," said FMI Senior Director for Health & Well-being Krystal Register, MS, RDN, LDN. "This report illustrates that companies across the food industry are committed throughout their entire organizations to offer products and services to help families make positive food purchasing decisions and support them on their health and well-being journeys."
Highlights of 2024 survey
Food retailers are also employing a wider variety of health professionals, with 36% employing registered nurses (up from 20% in 2021), 14% employing nurse practitioners (up from 8% in 2021), 14% employing medical doctors (up from 4% in 2021), and 67% operating pharmacies. Additional insights:
- 90% of companies include nutritional messaging as part of promotions for family meals.
- 78% are reformulating national and private brand products to reduce ingredients of concern like sodium and added sugars.
- 63% identify disease prevention and health promotion as a top area of focus for programming in the next two years.
- 54% plan to partner with allied health organizations, like the American Heart Association.
- 46% expect to partner with health insurance providers in the near future.
Of the companies surveyed, 82% are working with dietitians to help develop health and well-being strategies, 70% are currently using established nutrition, health and well-being strategies, and 71% have dietitians in place at the corporate level.
