Articles

Food packaging is in the news. Over the past year, there have been more than 250,000 news reports about food packaging. Topics including edible packaging, eco-friendly packaging, phthalates, and single-use plastics are creating headlines and generating interest.  This webcast and podcast is designed to help retail RDs cut through the headlines and gain clearer understanding about food packaging benefits and risks related to food safety, health threats, food waste, environmental impact and more. During this segment, David Smith offers an overview of the current food packaging industry and highlights some of the most common misconceptions. David also provides insights into the myriad of challenges food companies face when evaluating packaging choices, such as compatibility with food ingredients, material sourcing, integration into food processing, food protection/safety, consumer perception, recycling, and reuse.

Last week at the Virtual Experience, the Retail Dietitians Business Alliance announced the recipient of this year’s Retail RD of the Year Award. Mandy Katz, the winner, is a Manger of Healthy Living at Giant Food.

A talented group of retail dietitians were nominated for this year’s Retail RD of the Year award, showcasing the amazing talent and work of these individuals in driving health and wellbeing as a public health initiative and business priority. The runners-up for this year award are:

The global personalized nutrition market is gaining traction quickly and is expected to reach 3.56 billion by 2030. For retail companies to fully leverage this trend they must offer not only tailored products, but also detailed guidance that “connects the dots” between shoppers’ needs and store offerings.

David Smith offers an overview of the current food packaging industry and highlights some of the most common misconceptions.

It keeps getting harder for primary household shoppers to buy nutritionally and cost-efficiently in 2022. Bedeviled by out of stocks and higher prices on many of their preferred healthful foods, they now must learn about, find, and try budget-friendly nutritional substitutes to satisfyingly feed their families.

Last week’s article Trend Setting at Expo West shared insights from the show floor at this annual conference. This week, one of the authors -- Deanna Scheid, RD, Regional Health & Wellness Specialist at SpartanNash – shares insight on how retail dietitians can apply knowledge gained at a trade show once back in the office.

Over the past few years, consumers have been cooking at home more than ever, which, despite the circumstances, has been good news. Research shows that people who regularly eat home-cooked meals have healthier diets and they also save money and time. Keep your customer’s home cooking habits strong and drive sales for your stores by helping shoppers advance their meal planning skills with these educational ideas.

As more and more grocery shoppers take an interest in how their food is grown and processed, RDBA has partnered with Potatoes USA on our newest webcast/podcast, titled the Role of Processed Foods in a Safe, Healthy and Sustainable Food System.

Retail RDs play a unique role within the profession and the industry, making the opportunity to engage with and learn from colleagues exceedingly valuable. For this reason, RDBA is offering several sessions at the upcoming Virtual Experience where you can gain insights and best practices from colleagues and engage in group discussions on key topics of interest to retail RDs.