Information about the Aspen Ideas Festival is here. I am scheduled for a session, The American Wellness Paradox, currently scheduled from 11:00-11:50 a.m., at the East Lawn Tent. This will be a discussion with senior HHS policy advisor, Calley Means. Here’s the blurb on it: “Americans are spending more than ever on healthcare, supplements, wellness trends, and “clean eating,” yet rates of chronic disease and metabolic illness continue to climb. As skepticism fuels the rise of movements like MAHA, debates over what Americans should eat have become deeply cultural, political, and economic. Two influential voices with sharply different perspectives on nutrition and food science explore how food systems, farming practices, consumer culture, and the wellness industry collided to create one of the defining public health debates of our time.”
Surprise! Consumers don’t trust the meat industry
According to MeatingPlace, the Center for Food Integrity asked more than 2,000 respondents to rank a field of 8 possible priorities for the meat industry. The rankings of meat industry respondents were quite different from those of consumers.
Meat industry respondents ranked profitability as #2 and humane treatment of farm animals as #8.
In contrast, consumer respondents ranked profitability way down the list as #7 but humane treatment of farm animals as #4.
These disconnects, say industry observers, are serious and “feed an overall distrust of commercial ag operations.” The survey report explains:
There is an inverse relationship between the perception of shared values and priorities for commercial farms. Consumers fear that commercial farms will put profit ahead of principle and therefore cut corners when it comes to other priority issues. As farms continue to change in size and scale we have to overcome that bias by effectively demonstrating our commitment to the
values and priorities of consumers.
Maybe the message is getting out there?
