Every Day is Food Day for America’s Food and Beverage Industry

Food Day is a day to celebrate the hard work and innovative spirit of more than 15 million Americans who work to provide billions of consumers with safe, healthy, convenient and affordable food, GMA said.

“America’s food and beverage companies are the foundation of our economy. From farm to table, they support more than 15 million American jobs. They provide consumers with safe, healthy, convenient and affordable food. They help feed 300 million Americans and 6 billion people around the world. They donate billions of dollars to alleviate hunger. That is what Food Day is all about,” said GMA President and CEO Pamela G. Bailey. >> More

GMA Applauds President Obama For Signing Free Trades Agreements into Law

GMA recently praised President Obama for signing into law free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. The agreements will be critically important to increasing the exports of U.S. food and consumer products.

“We applaud President Obama for signing into law free trade agreements (FTAs) with Colombia, Panama and South Korea,” said Pamela G. Bailey, president and CEO of GMA. “The food, beverage and consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry exports $50 billion worth of goods to 215 countries around the globe, generating a $10 billion trade surplus." >> More
 

GMA Launches “We Don’t Just Make Food…We Make Time for Families” Campaign

This fall GMA launched a 10-week campaign designed to inform policymakers, media and opinion leaders about the valuable contributions food and beverage manufacturers are making to the economy, communities and the lives of consumers. The campaign will focus on what the industry is doing to spur economic growth; ensure access to safe, healthy affordable foods; tackle hunger relief; and market its products responsibly. >> More
 

GMA and FMI Announce “Facts Up Front” as Theme for Front-of-Pack Labeling Program

GMA and the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) recently announced that “Facts Up Front” will serve as the theme for the consumer education campaign in support of the food and beverage industry’s fact-based front-of-pack nutrition labeling system that was launched in January as Nutrition Keys.

“Obesity is a serious problem and its toll on individuals and the cost of our healthcare system is staggering.” said GMA President and CEO Pamela G. Bailey. “GMA and its members share the First Lady's goal of solving obesity within a generation and are committed to doing our part by providing consumers with the products, tools and information they need to construct a healthy diet and live active lives.” >> More
 

GMA Statement on House Energy and Commerce Committee Hearing on IWG Proposed Marketing Guidelines

GMA issued a statement in response to the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the Interagency Working Group’s Proposed Marketing Guidelines.

"Ultimately, the proposal is anything but voluntary and will have little or no impact on obesity and public health. Rather than tweak, adjust or modify its proposal, the IWG should withdraw the proposal and embark on a comprehensive effort to study the impact of marketing on childhood obesity and the costs and benefits of any and all proposed marketing guidelines,” said Pamela G. Bailey. >> More
 

Retailers Can Increase In-stocks and Sales with Fully Integrated DSD, Says New GMA Report

Less than 60 percent of manufacturer’s sales representatives (MSRs) of the major direct store delivery (DSD) suppliers have access to store specific retailer plan-o-grams, according to Optimizing the Value of Fully Integrated DSD, a report from the GMA DSD Committee and Willard Bishop.

“When a fully integrated DSD system is operating seamlessly, shoppers find the products they are looking for every time they shop and retailer resources are engaged only with receiving and checkout. Taking advantage of these efficiencies can free up nearly 17,000 hours of labor per year in a typical large format store,” said Jeanne Iglesias, GMA senior director of industry affairs and collaboration. >> More
 

GMA Releases New Shopper Marketing Study

Shopper marketing, the discipline of influencing customers when they are in shopping mode, continues to experience rapid growth, according to new research released today by GMA, Booz & Company and Shopper Sciences.

The report, titled Shopper Marketing 5.0: Creating Value With Shopper Solutions, shows that company leaders in shopper solutions experience higher sales growth and a better return on investment for their marketing programs. >> More

GMA-FMI Joint Sustainability Summit Highlights

On September 12-14, in Scottsdale, Arizona, GMA and the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) jointly hosted the 2011 Sustainability Summit. This summit was the premier sustainability event for the food and consumer products industry, bringing together retailers, manufacturers, government and advocacy groups to learn together, network and seek common solutions.

With nearly 300 attendees, the focus of this summit went beyond “thinking green”, helping companies become leaders on critical sustainability issues facing the industry, including sourcing, waste, agriculture and social responsibility.

Below in blue is a brief sampling of the conference content and events. For more information and to download available presentations, please visit the conference Web site.
 

The Triple Bottom Line

Andrew Savitz, industry expert on sustainability and author of The Triple Bottom Line identified sustainability opportunities companies have, and can continue to expand on through the triple bottom line: the economic, environmental and social responsibilities companies are being valued and measured by. >> More
 

Practical Application of the Global Packaging Project’s Sustainability Metrics

In this session, Ellen Feeney, vice president of corporate affairs at WhiteWave Foods and Kim Lymn, senior manager of packaging at Target Corporation discussed the Global Protocol on Packaging Sustainability Project (GPPS), a voluntary effort that began three years ago, involving some of the largest global retailers and brand owners. >> More
 

Sustainable Agriculture – Toward Shared Value for All Players in the Food Supply Chain

This session brought together producers and suppliers who focused on the performance and metrics of sustainable agriculture in the supply chain. Each panelist shared examples of how their company is addressing these shared issues. >> More
 

Stakeholder Partnerships 2.0

This panel addressed the advantages of partnerships between NGO’s and corporate companies, and what tough issues may arise because of them. The consensus was that finding common interests and having transparency are both essential to building a successful partnership, which often grow over time. >> More
 

A Focus on Food Waste

In this session, industry experts discussed the issues surrounding food waste and cross-industry partnerships and innovations companies are implementing to address that issue.

According to research, approximately 34 million tons of food waste is generated annually in the U.S. and 14 percent of that waste is going to landfills. At the same time, 49 million Americans are food insecure, including one in five children. >> More
 

Perspectives from Industry “Sustainability Gurus”

Sustainability is a topic every company cares about, but not every company knows how to begin addressing. This session featured a panel of leading retail and supplier executives that shared their experience in taking sustainability to the next level. >> More


 

GMA-FMI Joint Supply Chain Conference:
January 22-24, 2012

The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and GMA are pleased to announce the third annual Supply Chain Conference, jointly hosted by the FMI-GMA Trading Partner Alliance (TPA). Working together,

FMI and GMA have created a uniquely effective forum for retailers and manufacturers to come together to establish collaborations that foster supply chain efficiency, reduce costs and drive value.

At the conference, attendees will be given the opportunity to participate in interactive discussions and best-in-class sessions to help create joint ventures such as alternative fuel sourcing, reduce costs, as well as:

• Improve scheduling through sharing of data
• Learn about new technologies
• Mitigate workflow interruptions
• Discover the latest developments in product traceability
• Explore better contingency plans
• Use shopper trends data to drive inventory levels
• Optimize direct store deliveries (DSD)

For more information, please visit the website.

Get Smart: What's Coming in Nutrition Labeling Reform Webinar

Late in 2011, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to publish an extensive proposed rule that would reform the Nutrition Facts label and related rules including:

• Propose new Daily Values
• Require additional nutrient declarations
• Make some currently required declarations voluntary
• Make adjustments to nutrition label formats
• Regulate some nutrition-related claims

GMA experts have formulated this webinar to outline the anticipated scope of this rulemaking in order to prepare food companies for the coming changes that are likely to affect all food labels. For more information, please visit the website.

Food Litigation:Focus on Food Safety
November 2, 2011
Webinar

Get Smart: What's Coming in Nutrition Labeling Reform
November 3, 2011
Webinar

What's in Your Plant?
Measuring Microbial Control Effectiveness
November 15, 2011
Webinar

Hazard Analysis and Food Safety Controls:
Learning by Example
December 8, 2011
Webinar

GMA/FMI Joint Supply Chain Conference
January 22-24, 2012
Orlando, FL

Food Claims and Litigation Conference
February 21-23, 2012
Dana Point, CA
 

Science Forum
April 3-6, 2012
Washington, DC