Do Markets Supply the Types of Foods Desired by Consumers?
It is difficult to imagine that a business strategy that disregards consumer preferences could succeed for long. This is particularly true in the highly competitive and innovative modern food industry. Technological advances in processing, storage, transportation, and communication have increased the ability of food manufacturers to both gauge and satisfy variations in consumer food preferences. Consumers in the United States had about 40,000 food products to choose from in the typical supermarket in 2000 (Harris, Kaufman, Martinez, & Price, 2002). The wide variety of food products on grocery store shelves reflects the willingness and ability of the industry to adapt to consumer preferences—even short-lived or faddish ones. For example, low-fat and low-carb diets have both influenced the mix of foods. In 1996, at the height of the low-fat movement, manufacturers introduced 3,434 new food products that were labeled “low fat” or “no fat.” Between 1987 and the end of September 2004, manuf
