The Many Faces Of Transparency

Faces of Transparency

Trust is the new currency of food & beverage brand loyalty, and the path to trust is transparency.

By Lauren R. Hartman, Product Development Editor

Trust is the new currency of brand loyalty, and the path to trust
is transparency.

That comes from Kira Karapetian, marketing vice president of Label Insight, but it nicely sums up the connections among transpar- ency, trust and success in today’s food & beverage industry.

Transparency is critical if food & beverage companies want consumers to trust their products. But what, today, is transparency? The de nition is evolving and can be di er- ent for almost every consumer.

For many, it means simpler, less pro- cessed ingredients — and certainly not genetically engineered ones, antibiotics, synthetic colors, sweeteners or avors,

nor “questionable” ingredients such as high-fructose corn syrup or brominated vegetable oil. Maybe organic or “free-from” is synonymous. Others want to know where their food comes from and if the producing company is committed to sustainability, humane treatment of animals or charita- ble causes.

“We’re in the midst of a shift in the market- place where the culture and conversation around conventional food, particularly online, is changing as consumers navigate which foods to adopt, moderate or abandon,” says Charlie Arnot, CEO of the Center for Food Integrity, Gladstone, Mo. “The consumer trust model shows communicating with values is three to ve times more important to earning trust than simply communicating facts and science.”…

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