Conducted prior to the food industry’s most recent egg scare, the report Food Safety Certification: A Study of Food Safety in the U.S. Supply Chain by DNV Business Assurance finds that food safety concerns can significantly influence the shopping behaviors of consumers and the business practices of food manufacturers, retailers, and distributors. In the survey of more than 400 consumers and 73 food companies, almost half of respondents said they changed shopping patterns because of food safety issues.

Day by day, evidence of the growing economic power of vegetarian food-seeking consumers continues to mount, telling us that “veg” is here to stay. What’s the evidence of this growing economic force, you ask? A quick scan of recent headlines gives the lowdown on the growth of “vegenomics.”

At one of the food industry’s largest and most notable tradeshows last week, the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting and Food Expo, food manufacturers gathered to show off the top trends in the industry. Among the major consumer trends are several notions that vegetarian food businesses are well positioned to take advantage of…

Though teens are an enigma to many adults, they are the consumers of tomorrow — heads of households and holders of the family purse who will make the decisions and shape the habits and attitudes of yet another, even newer generation. With enormous potential buying power and influence, we may believe we don’t understand this group, but what we do know about them offers great potential to vegetarian food businesses.

More great news for healthy food makers! In a nifty, new graphic taken from Reimagining Health & Wellness 2010, the Hartman Group totals up average consumer health and wellness spending and finds that average spending on wellness products has been on an upward trend since 2005.