Are we on the same (packing) line?

As of late, I need reading glasses. Yes, laugh about it: the time has come. I bought a few at once, because I hate looking for them. So now there is one in my handbag, one by my computer, one on my nightstand, and one in the kitchen. Because without glasses I simply cannot read the small print on packaging. With them I can't always read them either. The other day I tried in vain to read the instructions for use printed in white on a transparent label on a bag of risotto rice. I fumbled with a dark colored piece of paper in the bag of rice, and yes: the instructions appeared. There is still a lot of work to be done to make food labels clearer. 

The packaging that bears the label also requires attention and improvement. You know the situation: you fumble and fumble at the foil tab of a sealed package of meat products, but can't get a grip on it. The tab is too short or too tight. Impatiently you reach for a solution: the scissors! The packaging promised to be resealable, but that option has vanished after this operation. So I'll just use a container for fresh food. But it doesn't fit: the packaging is too wide. 

Politicians are even better at provoking irritation. In the TV debates for the upcoming elections they interrupt each other and demand that the others let them finish. Unfortunately, this was not very different at the Food Election Debate, organized by CBL, LTO and FNLI. Here, too, the politicians tumbled over each other with cutting remarks and firm statements such as "it must stop with the regulatory diarrhea that is splashing down on us!", without really listening to each other. Only at the end, when the initiators themselves are seated around the table, does calm descend into the conversation. The presenter marvels at their unanimity, whereupon Cees-Jan Adema of the FNLI soberly declares: "As consumer-driven organizations, we wouldn't be worth a damn if we didn't take sustainability, health and pricing seriously and, above all, work together as well! 

Also 'the playing field' itself, i.e. you, the frontrunners in the industry, show that it can be done. Without fuss, without small print, but by doing. By getting to work on future-proof and more sustainable packaging. There goes my annoyance!

Judith Witte
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