Survival — and Food Marketing
Hurricane Katrina has taught me one important lesson: in an emergency, be prepared to go it alone. I’m not the only one to draw that conclusion. In the San Francisco Chronicle weekly poll published yesterday (Sept. 17), 79 percent had the same insight.
We are all vulnerable to natural disaster or terrorist attack. While there may be a ground zero that affects a central core, the reverberations of a disaster, natural or man-made, can have a wide-ranging and devastating ripple effect.
In a Red Cross survey a year ago, only one in ten Americans said they are truly prepared for a disaster, having: 1) made a disaster plan, 2) built a disaster supplies kit and 3) gotten trained to respond to an emergency.
But here’s the key: barriers that keep people from being prepared, according to the survey, include “don’t know where to go for information or information is not available” (20 percent) “too busy/no time” (17 percent) and “haven’t thought/don’t think about it” (15 percent).
So if we could build awareness and provide information everywhere the public turns, it may get the remaining 90 percent of Americans to take some self-protective action. Manufacturers of products suitable for disaster preparedness could help to keep survival needs top-of-mind and educate the public by adding disaster information as a natural part of their Web sites or by producing how-to brochures.
The tone doesn’t have to be alarming or depressing, nor does it have to position the products for disaster only. Canned food companies can tell us how long you can stock cans and what the best conditions are for storing them for an emergency, while still promoting their products for daily use, dispensing recipes and cooking and entertaining tips. Bleach companies can tell us how to purify water using bleach. And how long is bottled water safe to drink, anyway? Providing such information could increase product sales; but it’s not about trying to capitalize on disaster. Manufacturers should be educating proactively for the public good.
I asked some food and nutrition experts what they would have on hand if disaster strikes, and why. In addition to water (1 to 3 quarts per person per day), they would stock:
Dietitian Mary Jo Feeney, MS, RD, FDA, nutrition communications and marketing specialist, California
- Powdered or evaporated milk to be reconstituted with stored water - because milk has almost all nutrients except iron and vitamin C.
- Enriched/fortified cereal - to supply iron missing in milk.
- Orange juice/grapefruit juice (in plastic containers or powder to be reconstituted) - to supply the vitamin C not in milk.
Dana Jacobi, writer and cookbook author; her latest is the 12 Best Foods Cookbook, New York.
- Canned tuna - good source of protein.
- Canned beans - good source of protein and fiber.
- Canned corn - good source of fiber, phyto-nutrients (lutein and xeaxanthyn) and sweet.
I sometimes eat corn in place of cookies, In fact, I usually have them on hand anyway. I also keep on hand canned tomatoes as a vegetable, and walnuts as a good source of protein, fiber and fat.
Jean Maguire, health and nutrition writer, former health and nutrition director of Family Circle magazine, New York
The food items I would (and do!) have in stock for an emergency:
- Beans (black, black eye, kidney, garbanzo, lima, navy and red) - they’re high in fiber and also protein, which keeps you nourished and staves off hunger. Beans are also a good source of magnesium, which may help lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in women.
- Peanut butter -also a good source of protein, and it’s filling.
- Canned salmon - high in protein plus omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil, which may help prevent heart disease, among other conditions.
INSIGHT: Hurricane Katrina should be the wake-up call that prepares us for the next emergency. Food companies who act now to educate can help to mitigate the suffering the next time around.
