A Problem in the Grocery Store

Callie Mae Coons.

What the housewife buys in a grocery store concerns many persons, each of whom can learn something from the others.

It concerns the earner who supplies the cash, and the ones who will eat the food. It concerns the retailer and wholesaler, who risk losses from damaged goods and fluctuating prices. It concerns the processor, who decides how much of the seasonal crops to pack, freeze, can, or mill and put in storage. It concerns the farmer, who plans far in advance what and how much to grow. It concerns warehouse men and transportation men, who must maintain the correct conditions of temperature and humidity and sanitation, and observe precise delivery schedules.

Finding out what she and her family need and want is a major problem for producers and processors. The research results that guide them can also help the consumers decide what to buy and how to use it to best advantage.

BEFORE DECIDING TO PRODUCE a new food, the processor may need to consider several questions. Will it fill a need? How much will it cost the consumer? How will it compare with the same food in other forms, as to cost, usefulness, and other qualities the buyer looks for? Will it displace other foods? Will it reach a new group of consumers? Will it give a fair margin Of profit? Will it be as good as his reputation or is it just a tasty and expensive mixture, low in important nutritive values, that may not survive the first advertising campaign?

The housewife wants foods that her family will like and will satisfy their appetite and needs. She assumes that the food will be wholesome, sanitary, unadulterated, and not hazardous to health. She expects it to be priced fairly; sometimes she chooses a higher-priced item because she believes it is of higher quality.

Consumers expect that the chain of research to find new uses for foods and how to handle and distribute them will continued until it yields the correct answers as to the consumer values of the new products. The responsibility for a wholesome food rests with the industry that processes, converts, or manufactures it. The processor is expected to conform to existing sanitary regulations and to food and drug laws governing standards of identity, purity, and labeling. He should be aware of the nutritional and other values of the basic food materials used, and seek to retain or improve them.

The financial security of the processor, however, demands that he be fairly sure of consumer acceptance before he expands too far in the manufacture of a new product. Determination of the usefulness of foods to consumers is a serious problem, sometimes costly for both processors and consumers. In developing a product, a processor may spend a lot of money on research to find out what chances it will have in finding an open and permanent market. If the inquiry is poorly planned and conducted and gives the wrong prediction, still more time and money are spent in pursuing a wrong lead. If the product finds only a temporary market, it fails to move from grocers' shelves, or moves from kitchen pantries into discard. Finally, processors, distributors, and consumers all have to pay for poor research and the business ventures based on it.

Costs and the losses involved in food processing reach consumers in other ways, too. Sometimes, without regard to consumers' needs, vast sums are spent in advertising some new product. This advertising convinces many consumers that they need the new product. In the price of the food the consumer pays the cost of being educated in this fashion. Other buyers may have doubts about a food and may start inquiries through the press, schools, Government agencies, and even the Congress. They want to know whether a publicized product is all that is claimed for it, or whether it possesses some hidden youth-giving quality, or whether it contains some harmful ingredient likely to aggravate human ills. Every inquiry costs time and money.

Occasionally large amounts of public and private moneys are used in hearings and legal proceedings to establish the harmlessness of some processing ingredient or food. Food legislation may prove essential to protect the health of people, and then more money is required to enforce the law.

Research so far has not shown how to measure all desirable consumer qualities of all foods, but some progress has been made. A number of measurements may be necessary to tell whether a food deserves a place in production programs, on grocers' shelves, and in family meals. The housewife judges foods by various practical standards in her kitchen or at her table and decides whether or not to buy again. The market analyst surveys population groups for attitudes and opinions so that he can predict consumer preference. Others test consumer acceptance of a new product by take-it-or-leave-it reactions in stores, homes, schools, and institutions. The food technologist has laboratory tools for measuring some qualities, but not all measurement of palatability is most baffling. The biochemist and nutritionist analyze the nutrient content and test the food to see how far it will go in supporting life in laboratory animals. Each group analyzing food qualities needs an understanding of what qualities other groups are measuring and how measurements by other yardsticks may affect its conclusions.

SOMEWHERE ALONG THE LINE in the development, processing, marketing, and household use of a new food someone is going to apply tests of usefulness that may spell the success or failure of the product in the market. Judging a new food by the homemaker's yardstick long before it goes to market will minimize losses. Some of the tests are :

Palatability. The crucial test is the response of the people who eat the food. Family members may have limited or widely cultivated tastes. They may prefer mild or strong seasonings. Specific directions for preparing and serving a new food can help it through its first practical tests.

Form. Many processed foods come ready-to-serve, as preserves and baked goods. Others, like soup mixes, frozen foods, and pancake mixes, are ready to cook. Flour, sugar, shortening, and many others require preparation and cooking before serving. Dry forms dry milk, dried eggs, and potato flour, for example may require reconstitution, but have the advantage of longer pantry life than do the fresh forms. Ground forms, as in meats, dry beans, or meals, may be cooked quickly, but may not be acceptable indefinitely because of monotonous texture.

Packaging. The amount desired in a package depends on family size and on the rate of use and of deterioration of the product. Visibility of contents may help promote initial acceptance of a superior product, or its continued acceptance if several qualities are available. Ease of opening and removing contents must be considered, too, but reclosing or transferring contents for protection during storage may be even more important. It may be more satisfactory to transfer crackers or ready-to-eat cereals to airtight containers immediately upon opening than to pay the cost of a heavily coated moisture-proof package, which gives protection only while the carton is sealed. The cost of expensive packaging, added to the price of the product, may hinder its continued acceptance. Dual-use packages, such as plastic containers, can be expected to have sales appeal only until consumers have a supply sufficient for the desired secondary uses. The quality of the food in the package is more important than the packaging.

Storage qualities. The storage life required for a product depends on how often the family wants to eat it. Foods should store well at room temperatures or in the refrigerator. Other levels of controlled temperatures are not available in homes in all climates. In some climates or seasons, dried fruits, salad dressings, fats, and such must be kept in the refrigerator, or only small amounts purchased at a time. Space for storage, the size and shape of the package, and the likelihood of exchange of odors with other foods in the same compartment all enter into storage considerations. Designers of food packages need to collaborate with designers of refrigerators and kitchen cabinets for better handling of foods and management of the available space.

Multiple-use foods. A food that combines well in a variety of dishes soon becomes a familiar pantry item. A biscuit mix that can be used also for dumplings, shortcakes, and ( with a little change) pie-crust, cake, and cottage pudding has wider demand than a prepared pudding mix that makes one kind of dish of one flavor and texture.

Food processors can take cues from the menu patterns of most American families. Soups, salads, juices, and desserts may be served once or twice daily; main dishes, one to three times; vegetables and fruits, two to six times; cereals and breads, two to eight times or more, seconds at meals and between-meal snacks. A versatile product, such as dry milk or potato flour, can enter into several of these items each day. On the other hand, a popular ready-to-serve product may find many roles in one item. For example, ice cream may be served for dessert, alone or in combination with cake, pie, pudding, or fruit, and also between meals, at home or at soda fountains, in a beverage or as a frozen confection or other concoction.

Convenience. Homemakers look for time- and labor-saving features in food products and simplicity in handling. Some products, such as the improved shortenings, eliminate motions in conventional methods of preparation or tend themselves to simple, easy new methods. They have a better chance for consumer acceptance than products that require several stages in preparation, much space, and many utensils. So eager are housewives for convenience in the kitchen, especially in times of high incomes, that they may pay ten times the price of constituent ingredients for ready-to-cook mixtures. In recent years, high prices have scarcely hindered acceptance of many costly items. In cities, where eggs, milk, fat, meat, and other ingredients are comparatively expensive, ready-to-cook mixes, like quick bread, baked goods, and packaged soups, puddings, and desserts, may cost no more than the same dishes made from home recipes and may fill a real need in small families and in the small kitchens of employed women. Some of the ready-to-use products in big packages may be used in institutions where the wages of kitchen helpers are high or cooking skills are so low that the quality of cooked food is poor and much food is otherwise wasted. In times of close budgeting and less employment of women, the market for mixes may not be so good.

Cost. Homemakers have several ways of looking at costs. One may compare prices per pound or per can. She may figure the cost of a meal for her family or of a serving. Another may keep account of all food costs and compute the amount to a person for a week. If the total food bill runs high, she begins to figure and sooner or later omits the foods expensive per serving. However, consumers do well to remember that servings differ in size and that in different foods (such as soups and desserts) the portions do not carry the same satisfactions and nutritive values.