Consumer Preferences

The global food economy is shifting. Market forces and demographic trends are continuously influencing supply and demand. Consumers are voting with their values on a wide range of quickly emerging food issues. Anticipating these changing complexities is a crucial part of how we help our customers succeed and grow.

Changing food landscape

With our size, expertise and sustainable supply chain capabilities, we help customers navigate today’s complex and fast-changing food system from field to table. 

Cargill makes numerous products and ingredients that satisfy evolving consumer values and preferences, including healthy oils, sweeteners with zero calories or without GMOs, turkeys free from growth-promoting antibiotics and more.
 

Food insight

The story of food is increasingly important – consumers want to know what's in their food as well as where and how their food is produced. An increasing number of consumers view food as an extension of their identity, seeking out foods that match their values, including being produced in a certain manner or perceived to deliver specific health benefits.

Cargill is helping our customers provide consumers the clarity and reassurance they seek around all dimensions of their food, from use of GMOs to animal welfare to the environmental impact of production. Being able to trace food back to its origin, demonstrate that animals are raised in an environment that satisfies their physical, nutritional and health needs and treated in a manner that minimizes distress, and track the environmental impact of the supply chain requires visibility all the way back to the farm. We are working with customers through this transformational shift toward specialized and traceable supply chains.

There is no “one size fits all” solution to meeting the nutritional needs and preferences of consumers around the world. We are advancing a variety of approaches and recognize that science and values both are major drivers of food decisions. We consider all perspectives and respect the range of opinions, but reject the notion that there are “good foods” and “bad foods.”

Cargill will continue to source GM crops – they are critically important to sustainably nourishing a global population. At the same time, we develop non-GM products to address consumer values and preferences. We help food manufacturers source conventionally-bred (non-GM) crops and ingredients produced from non-GM crops. Our portfolio of non-GM products, coupled with our insight and global supply chain capabilities, enables us to help customers reformulate existing products or develop new ones to meet their needs.