Marketing considerations for improved protein food products

The conventional approach to marketing of improved products in the retail commercial markets of highly industrialized Western countries is of little utility in meeting presently unfulfilled protein needs of the underdeveloped countries. To be effective and accepted by the target consumers, improved protein foods must be classless, and must be introduced simultaneously at all levels of the economy. This can rarely be accomplished by the conventional business approach. New enterprise structures must be developed in which private companies can participate in joint ventures with governments, cooperatives and voluntary agencies. Successful market development in the less developed countries demands a systems approach in which interrelationships among food availabilities, nutritional needs, acceptability factors and purchasing power are evaluated in the context of the total food system of the country. One of 21 papers presented at the Symposium, “Oilseed Processors Challenged by World Protein Need,” ISF-AOCS World Congress, Chicago, September 1970.