The 32nd Annual Top100 R&D Survey

摘要

Food companies are not only trimming fat from their products these days, but also from their payrolls. Just ask anyone working in food R&D. We did, and responses to FOOD PROCESSING'S 32nd Annual R&D survey, which was circulated among the R&D staffs of the nation's 100 largest food and beverage companies, confirmed that many R&D departments are indeed running leaner and meaner, despite the extra servings that have been heaped on their work plates. One respondent, who works for a confectionery company and who requested anonymity, noted that the number of new products her department was asked to develop last year doubled, even though the department's staff size remained essentially the same. "It creates more work," she acknowledges, "which means you really have to learn to prioritize." As another respondent ― an employee of a prominent soup maker who also requested anonymity ― puts it, "The days of putting a product out there that lasts for 20 years is over. Products these days have a much shorter shelf life." The pipeline, like the consumer, needs to be fed.