What Scientific Challenges Does the Food Industry Face? (2:01)
The food industry is charged with creating products that taste great, but are nutritious. In this video, HealthMaker Mehmood Khan, MD describes this issue, as well as the agriculture industry's constant challenge to get by on the freshwater supplies.
Read Transcript
One is environmental, the other is what I would call human. Let's talk about the human one. We know consumers will not compromise on taste and enjoyment, for quote, having something healthy. Whether it's a adolescent or an adult, no matter how you look at this on the best research, consumers will make choices on what they enjoy.
Just instructing humans who are free-living to make choices, they won't do it, and therein lies one of the greatest challenges for myself. How do I make the best tasting, most delicious foods and at the same time, keep them healthy, and we constantly are working to do exactly that, do both. From an environment point of view, probably one of the biggest things that we think about is 80% of the world's fresh water usage is by the agricultural industry.
The planet doesn't have more fresh water to give. Most countries have been de-pleading under ground water, including the United States is not sustainable. Our aquafans are rapidly de-pleading. What are we going to do? And the agricultural industry, the food industry and government are going to have to come together with the academic community and say how do we think about more sustainable farming, and a more sustainable food industry?
There isn't an option, we can't do without food, at the same.
Mehmood Khan, MD, is chief executive officer of the Global Nutrition Group and chief scientific officer of PepsiCo. He discusses issues of nutrition, hunger, food security and the challenges of feeding a growing world population.
0:54
