In the first installment of The Science of the Food Industry, we looked at how Dr. Pepper used science to create their Vanilla Cherry Dr. Pepper recipe. In Part 2, we look at how Lunchables transformed the lunchtime industry, despite offering little nutritional value.
The Rise of the Grab and Go Meal
Oscar Mayer was falling on tough times in the late 1980’s. Their parent company was acquired by Phillip Morris Companies Inc. in 1985, and company executives began to worry about their job security. With added pressure to stimulate business growth, Oscar Mayer executives decided the best way to increase their sales numbers was to re-establish their place in the lunch market.
Oscar Mayer had long advertised to mothers, as females were the predominant purchasers of groceries. Knowing that women often bought lunch supplies for children who attended school, Oscar Mayer assumed they were in a good place in the market, as their re-sealable packages allowed for easy access during busy mornings.
Or so they thought.
During focus group studies, mothers reported that mornings were often too hectic to prepare sandwiches for their children, even with re-sealable deli-meat packages. Parents wanted to be able to provide healthy meals to their children as quick as possible, so Oscar Meyer executives sat down in a room to create a product that catered to the demands of busy mothers.
Creating the Lunchable
As some of Oscar Mayer’s brightest brains tried to solve the problem, they ran into a variety of issues. How could they keep bread fresh in a prepackaged lunch? What cheese would they use? How long of a shelf life would the meat or cheeses have? The answers to those questions were answered in nearly the same way, by sacrificing healthier options for more convenient, sodium-rich products. For example:
- Instead of using bread, Oscar Mayer executives added crackers because of their shelf life.
- In lieu of natural cheeses, Oscar Mayer went with processed versions because it sliced better and lasted longer.
- Instead of adding fruits or vegetables, Oscar Mayer added candy bars and sugar-packed drinks to “round out the meal”.
- To add variety to their Lunchables line, Oscar Mayer added processed versions of Hot Dogs, Burgers, Pizzas, Nachos and Chicken Nuggets, all loaded with fats and sugars.
- The company later added a “Maxed Out” line of Lunchables that had nearly an entire day’s amount of saturated fat, two-thirds the recommended daily intake of sodium, and nearly 13 teaspoons of sugar.
Oscar Mayer executives saw their Lunchables line fly off the shelf, but did they have an obligation to provide healthier options to the American consumer? Ultimately, the company did attempt to make a healthier option with less fat, but Americans were dissatisfied with the new taste and the product was quickly eliminated. The company later attempted to rebrand its Lunchables image by adding sealed pineapple and orange cups, but the amount of high fructose corn syrup and sucrose needed to keep the fruit fresh quickly drew criticism from health officials.
Dr. Silverman comments
Phillip Morris began by attacking our health with tobacco products, and now they’re contributing to our expanding waistlines. We shouldn’t be surprised that they applied their knowledge and skill to the food industry. They sat back and made a profit while watching children consume irresistible and unhealthy foods. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and say they know not what they do; but in this case, they knew exactly what they were doing!
During the last quarter of a century, we have finally seen a drop in the smoking rates from >30% to 20% in 2010. This corresponded directly with the increased regulation of the tobacco industry. However, the rates have recently stopped dropping. Cigarette taxes make it less likely governments (state and federal) will ever find a way to rid our country of this addictive and deadly substance as the government is now ‘addicted’ to the revenue.
Similarly, food is taxable and as ‘consumers’ get bigger, they consume more and more. As a society, our obesity rates are alarming. More than 35% of adults are dangerously overweight. This is extremely detrimental to our society.
On Monday, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s attempt to curtail the soda industry was invalidated by the New York State Supreme Court, making it even more obvious that government is powerless to regulate human behavior.
We need disruptive thinking to create solutions to this ‘expanding’ problem.
Related source: NY Times
