Nutrition Quotient-A new tool for empowerment of mothers?

Awareness about quality, nutrition and safety of food eaten every day can be very reassuring for a house wife when it comes to managing a house hold with growing children and aged seniors. Media sources do offer a variety of information on food but often some of them are contradictory putting us in great doubt about our knowledge in this area. So is the Internet source where contradictions are galore on every aspect of food. Now comes a new source of information via the Internet that can be accessed by every aspiring mother for testing her knowledge about food and update the same constantly. Information is a "power" that if understood properly and used effectively can empower women who take great care in bringing up a family. The new tool of assessing the knowledge about food, christened as Nutrition Quotient (NQ) is designed by as alliance of Indian Dietetic Association, Indian Medical Association, All India Institute of Medical Sciences with the food industry. As a voluntary education program this is most apt for willing mothers and others interested in upgrading their food information base through interaction with experts on the Internet. Here is a report on this interesting initiative which is timely and appropriate.

"Tetra Pak recently launched the Right to Keep Food Safe initiative in Jaipur, as part of which, a seminar was held for mothers to equip them with information to make important decisions related to food safety and health. Present here was actress Aditi Govitrikar, who said, "As a mother, I need to become more aware about good nutrition and safe food habits. I congratulate Tetra Pak's efforts and recommend every mother be part of the Right to Keep Food Safe initiative." The mothers present at the seminar were shown the Nutrition Quotient (NQ) website - a first-of-its-kind online programme on food safety, nutrition and packaging developed by experts from the Indian Medical Association, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Indian Dietetics Association and National Dairy Research Institute. Mothers can log on to the website (www.nutrition-quotient.com) and test their own nutrition quotient.  Diet consultant and nutritionist Ritika Samaddar said, "Mothers know that it's important to provide nutritious food. But rising incidents of adulteration and lack of proper understanding justify the need for access to better information. I am certain these initiatives will go a long way in doing just that."  Tetra Pak South Asia Markets communications director Jaideep Gokhale said, "Our vision is to make food safe and available everywhere for everyone, through our aseptic processing and packaging technology. As a responsible industry player, we are proud to launch the Right to Keep Food Safe initiative and the NQ programme so that mothers become more aware and make safer and healthier choices for their families."

Nutrition and health are closely inter related and even among experts there is no unanimity on certain areas of this subject. Both Tetra Pak and Nestle are giant food industries selling machinery and a variety of branded products all over the world. Their involvement may prima facie raise some doubts regarding the reliability and truthfulness of NQ assessment besides their motives in supporting such an initiative. But linking with government and quasi government agencies in developing this concept may, to some extent, lend respectability to the program. A better informed mother can be more effective in checking food industry and food service industry from producing and marketing unhealthy foods. A well informed mother can also be a source of enlightenment to the household as far as hygiene, sanitation and safe eating practices are concerned. 

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

MEGA STORES AND MALLS-CAN THEY SUSTAIN INDEFINITELY?

So much is being talked, discussed and written about entry of giant global retailers into India where most of the population is used to the "pop & mom" stores around the corner of their house for their daily necessities. Of course this also happens to be a hot political issue with some parties arguing the case against allowing FDI in retail sector because of their fear about its consequences on the survival of about 8 million trading units spread across the country which form a sizable vote bank. Those vigorously pushing the case of the foreign retailers are accused of unabashed crony capitalism under the pressure of the "Big Daddy" the American government which is eyeing the vast Indian market with great hope. Emergence of on-line business as a formidable competitor to large super markets and malls for supplying many items of daily needs is raising the inevitable question whether these attractive, glittering, air-conditioned and one stop buying centers will be able to sustain themselves for long. Here is an interesting critique on this perplexing issue.

"There are very few retailers that have that kind of lifespan. There aren't too many that have been around for a hundred [years]. But even if they still exist they may be quite different. For example, you see now retailers trying very much to integrate their physical store with their Internet store. So maybe the physical store becomes mostly a showroom — you don't actually go there to buy things and walk out with them. You go there to look at things and then you order them online and then they're delivered to your house. Or maybe you order them online and you go to the store to pick them up, but the store may not be filled with quite so much merchandise. There are quite a few possibilities and I think it's really foolhardy to guess what this is going to look like frankly in 10 years, much less 50."

Take the case of India where urban land is very expensive and hard to get for setting up such huge business complexes. Will the masses patronize such places when transporting infrastructure is so primitive it may take any where from 2-3 hours to make a shopping expedition to these shopping enters? Even the affluent population with their chauffeur driven vehicles will hesitate before making a trip to these places where parking facilities are grossly inadequate. Here comes the role of on-line marketeers who can book orders from families and deliver them to their house. It is amazing that an internet company like Amazon.com has thousands of consumer items to offer and buyers get their requirements within a matter of 24-48 hours! In Bangalore an on-line company like "Big Basket" supplies fresh fruits and vegetables of high quality within Bangalore area in a matter of few hours without any risk of spoilage. Probably the surmise in the above report that in a few years time people will venture out only to physically see for themselves their choice and it will be the on-line companies who will deliver the goods ordered, a win-win situation for both the seller and the buyer!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

MALLS VS INTERNET "CONSUMERISM"-NEW STRATEGIES

The fast growing On-line business volumes world over seems to be rattling the traditional retailers as most consumer products are delivered to house holds at costs significantly less than that charged by the conventional merchandising system. One of the reasons attributed to this distortion is that items sold through the Internet are not often taxed, though this cannot explain fully such discrepancies. According to some projections, On-line retail business is estimated at $ 573 billion, not considered insignificant. Evolution of retail business from small "mom and pop" stores into huge Malls of today manifests the transformation of the society from a thrifty era into a high spending phase where consumers have unlimited opportunities to spend money whether own or borrowed on a multitude of choices that can enrich the quality of life. Lately many Malls built investing heavily to tap the growing consumer culture are finding that they are being threatened by the On-line business practices and to sustain them selves these modern retail outfits are trying to "invent" new ways to "retain and attract" more customers. Here is a commentary on this new phenomenon.   

"Just about every mall owner in America is looking for ways to compete with the Internet. R. J. Milligan, a real estate analyst for Raymond James, said that developers were slowly adding more service-oriented elements to malls — for instance, dividing a closed Sears anchor store into multiple cafes. But Glimcher is pushing the envelope even further than the standard model of restaurants and expanded food courts, he said, with tenants like Make Meaning (a membership store where people make crafts, cakes and other things) and Drybar (a salon with no scissors, just stylists with blow-dryers). "They've done a good job of getting the right tenants in there," Mr. Milligan said.Scottsdale shoppers can have their hair blown into beachy waves at Drybar, create picture frames at Make Meaning, try a tree pose at Blissful Yoga and grab a kale salad at True Food Kitchen before going to a movie, where they can have drinks and snacks delivered to their reserved seats. They can also take advantage of in-person-only opportunities at standard retailers, like the so-called booty cam at Industrie Denim, a jeans store, that lets women study their rear view. A Restoration Hardware scheduled to open soon will offer fresh flowers and cups of tea for sale. "We want to be a place that people go to frequently, more than one time a week," said Mr. Glimcher, so the emphasis is on classes and other hands-on experiences".

Whether Internet retailing is good or bad is another matter but still considering the on set of serious health related physical and mental down turn of populations in many wealthy countries due to sedentary life style, On-line buying is definitely a disadvantage as it is a temptation to get what one wants sitting at home with no chance of any significant physical activity. However On-line retailing is not amenable to many activities, especially those requiring personal care and attention and this is a factor that drives many Malls to change their lease profile to include more and more specialty food centers, personal care facilities, high end services, training centers for tailoring, food preparations and other skilled activities etc so that customers will have to visit them more and more often. With most Malls offering entertainment facilities and low end food courts there is already a trend emerging where more people come to Malls for this experience than for any purchase. If high end restaurants and shop outlets are given more importance, Mall attendance is bound to improve dramatically.

V.H.POTTY
http:f/vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com