Liz Cuneo: Hi I'm Liz Cuneo, editor in chief of Healthcare Packaging, and I am here with, fellow PMG editors, Chief Editor of Packaging World, the one and only Matt Reynolds, as well as Derrick Teal, Editor in Chief of ProFood World. Thank you for joining me, guys.
Derrick Teal: Of course, happy to be here.
Matt Reynolds: Yeah, thanks for having us.
Liz Cuneo: So, I thought we'd get together and talk about a very trending topic that sort of stretches across all of our brands, and that is the GLP-1 craze, and the fact that GLP-1s, in all forms are really on the rise. So, you know, at Pack Expo East in our video from the show floor, I commented in our video that the segment's really growing and growing fast. According to the American Medical Association, spending on GLP-1s rose by more than 500%, and that was from 2018 to 2023. Here we are in 2026 and I'm sure that number is booming even higher. So how much chatter do you guys hear about GLP-1s at work or even in your social lives?
Derrick Teal: Socially, I don't hear about it at all. It's mostly through work that I hear about it, but it's, not really so much on the production side of things, it's more, just an industry term like you hear webinars and get press releases on it. But otherwise, I haven't talked to a production manager yet that's really having seen this and is having it impact their process yet.
Liz Cuneo: Ok. How about you, Matt?
Matt Reynolds: Yeah, it's hitting now, I would say, when the onset of the GLP-1s, at one point years ago, there was some sort of stigma behind it. I think we're well beyond that, but brands, I assume were watching that closely. They didn't want to emblazon something on their packaging that would then put a stigma on the user of that packaging, but I think we've crossed that Rubicon a few times over, but I think the packaging portion of this is, is catching up. Two years ago, they didn't see much impact. This is 2023, so maybe three years ago now, there was very little impact, but now we're starting to see some real brand examples and also starting to see some logistical examples of smaller package size, that sort of thing. So, it's the wave is just finally catching up to the packaging, I'd say.
Liz Cuneo: Yeah, for sure. And you know, in my industry it's really shaping the cold chain packaging market. At PACK EXPO East, we saw new mailers coming out onto the market that were specifically made for GLP-1s. And also we talk about auto injectors for the space. So that comfort level is really up on that, which is interesting to see, so that's impacting autoinjectors, how those are being produced, seeing machinery that talks about labeling those, packaging those fast, and that's really all from that biologic’s growth space. So, it's interesting to hear, how that's affecting healthcare, but then, I was on a LinkedIn Live from a company talking about how GLP-1s are impacting more than healthcare. I wrote a recent article about it and, it's really impacting packaging and the food industry overall, so, Derrick, I didn't know if you had a comment on if you're hearing about how it's impacting food. I specifically heard that it's impacting food sales overall, food spending is going down, people's appetites are decreasing.
Derrick Teal: Yeah, so from a production standpoint, it's really not affecting things that much because when we're talking about portion sizes and that sort of thing, it's really just the same thing as if you're changing the formulation or a different type of run for a different type of product or SKU that you're dealing with on the line. So, from that angle, it's not, there's not a big change. It's more on, like I said, on the formulation side, where, you know, it's like when you're adding, trying to go from like a natural dye to or from a synthetic dye to a natural dye sort of situation. And so that stuff that's happening further upstream than what we tend to cover at ProFood World, but it does in fact impact things like production runs and then, processes and storage for, again, just like any change in SKU that you would make.
And also, and then ensuring that you're having, again it's formulation that the meals that you're sending out or a product that you're sending out is meeting those additional needs for protein or other aspects in the product that you want to get across that are needed because if they're eating less, they might need more of a certain type of nutrient in the food itself. So, those are impacting it, but one thing that I found interesting is that when people use GLP-1s in their food or eat a diet with GLP-1s in it, it impacts their sense of taste and texture become heightened. In the process with that intake and I found it interesting that they mentioned texture, because that's something that when you're talking about alternative proteins, that one of the reasons that people say that they don't want to have an alternative protein product is because of that texture aspect of it like I'm eating something that's supposed to be a chicken nugget, but it doesn't feel like a chicken nugget.
And so, if that becomes heightened, I think that's really going to be potentially a challenge for the manufacturers because they'll have to get that just right as it comes out because if there's a change from one run to the next in how that consistency or quality of texture, whatever it is. People will notice it and people are pretty finicky about stuff like that, obviously, but it's pretty interesting, I think that how that is going to impact potential manufacturing, but, I think more so it's going to be from a food safety side. And it has to do with the supply chain because, you know, the FDA has already said it's going to go after companies that are offering their own GLP-1 active pharmaceutical ingredients, that haven't been FDA approved, but they're being marketed as similar alternatives to APIs that have been FDA approved and it will come down to.. we've seen this before, is the supplier of those GLP-1s, you know, are they reputable? Are they consistent?
We've had issues in the past, regarding cinnamon powder where, unethical suppliers, they'll add lead or something to it to improve their own sales by adding less real products, cheaper to add, and lead tends to get missed in certain inspection processes, and we're in the middle of right now of another issue in regard to infant formula, where lead and some certain levels of lead and arsenic have been found, and it's again because of thesupply chain.
So, where that product is coming from, it's going to be important that the manufacturers know where, where it is, they have faith in their supplier. And GLP-1s are all peptides, and you know, so they're different from vitamins and minerals that we usually get from food products in the sense that they impact bodily functions because they're short chains of amino acids that tell cells to do certain things. And so because everybody's different, people might have different reactions to different types of peptides put into their systems and could that be a liability issue?
I mean, if somebody reacts differently from one peptide, from one person to the next regarding whatever peptide that they've consumed… whose fault is that?
Is that the consumer's fault because they didn't see a doctor or the producer's fault that they didn't have clear warning labels or something on that product. I think it's interesting, maybe ironic that, you know, peptides can have such a big impact on the human body.
And our current Health and Human Services Secretary wants to unban 14 peptides, as quickly as possible, but he's trying to get rid of the grass system, the (generally recognized as safe system) that's been used by food manufacturers for decades.
You know, he wants to get rid of that but wants to just throw in these peptides that could have, potentially more dire ramifications on an individual than the grass system that we use. So, I think a lot of information is going to be needed to convey to the consumers, so that's going to mean a lot of products, packaging, labeling is going to have to do some heavy lifting. But, you know, I think Matt knows more about the packaging side than I do. So I, I mean, let him comment on, on that sort of thing.
Liz Cuneo: Yeah, well, I mean, you brought up an interesting point that it's so many more GLP-1s maybe they're not even GLP-1s at that point, right? So many different peptide alternatives and how they're marketed, how they're labeled and distributed. Is it, you know, is it a food product? Is it a medicine? Is it a wellness formula?
I'm sure that causes some labeling shifts and regulatory changes as we talk about those different segments. So, Matt, I guess we turn to you as the labeling packaging expert- any insights into this rising boom of peptides.
Matt Reynolds: Well, I haven't seen peptides, it's such a niche thing. It doesn't really impact, I mean, the peptides that I would are mostly injected at this point, or they're seen as a medicine, a pharmaceutical, as opposed to, off the shelf, retail, consumer packaged goods. So, what I'm seeing instead of the product itself being advertised, it's more around the periphery of the product for GLP-friendly. So, portion control, you mentioned the run length and so on, that’s kind of where packaging and processing meet is going to be the smaller trays, so smaller amounts being deposited you know. I had an odd thought that maybe this would impact sustainability because you think smaller sizes- could they claim less material usage? But really what, what's happening is you tend to be amortizing similar amounts of packaging, maybe some a little bit less for quite a bit less food, so it actually works in the other direction there.
But yeah, I mean, one product specifically is designed to be portion controlled and to be, to be, pre-portioned with high protein and fiber, that's Nestle's Vital pursuit product. Again, smaller frozen meal trays sizes, portion-controlled servings, and what you'll see everywhere, I've got it on my desk here is high protein, positioning. You know, I didn't even notice this is, this is because I've got leg day today. But really, you're seeing more protein everywhere. I even noticed, Special K has protein, you know I've never thought of a Special K the cereal associated with protein.
So, the labeling itself is changing because as we know labels are a competition to get all sorts of different messaging on there from the brand designers who want the prettiest package and the most inviting for somebody to pick it off the shelf to the folks who want to communicate sustainability messaging.
So, this is just another NASCAR sticker to put on the roof of that NASCAR car, to label something GLP-1 friendly, but brands are doing it. Healthy Choice, Conagra’s Healthy Choice, and starting to explicitly reference GLP-1, so they have to make the choice.
Healthy Choice is a good place to do that. A steak might be GLP-1 friendly because it's a protein, but you're probably not going to be messaging that on, on a steak. So it's kind of choosing the right location for that, again, I was just showing you the Fair Life protein shakes.
This actually changed in 2018. So this was ahead of the GLP-1 trend, but this very prominent 26 or 42g of protein, are where you're seeing it there. So those are two areas, both in portion size, so the size of the physical tray and in the messaging on the labels. Again, this is on the periphery of the actual peptide product, which in my line of work is almost exclusively on the pharmaceutical side. Derrick, you probably know, there's very niche applications of actually ingesting these types of things, but for us, for the fast moving consumer goods segment and around the edges of a grocery store, it's all on the portion size, the tray size, and also on the labeling.
Liz Cuneo: Yeah, and the labeling reminds me of back in the day when Weight Watchers was everything. You would see that on all the packaged snacks or meals or Keto, like a lot of these buzzwords, and I hate to say the GLP-1 is a buzzword cause it's not. It's a real medicine that helps a ton of people with not only weight loss, but diabetes, so we have to say that, but, it's just interesting how it becomes a little bit of a marketing term with these foods. And some of that is when they're people are eating less, they're moving away from high calorie processed foods to healthier, nutrient dense, so like that 26g of protein becomes pretty important, when you’re limiting your food intake overall.
Derrick Teal: Yeah, and that's been a general trend probably since 2020. People trying to have healthier diets, healthier foods and a lot of it stems from being indoors, you know, locked in at home and having to cook your own food. So, you're seeing a lot of meal delivery services being big on their GLP-1 marketing. They're making sure that the messaging is getting out, that their meals are designed for people having those diets. But also in terms, it's a little bit out of our wheelhouse, but there are some restaurants actually, some sort of fast food chains or, that have included that in some of their products and it's, I read somewhere that, you know, It's sort of right now kind of fine print on the menu. So, but next time you go out to a certain Mexican restaurant chain check it out, see what you can see on some of the drinks, especially.
Liz Cuneo: Yeah, I will. You know, some of the data that I also was reading about suggests that the long-term impact of GLP-1 usage, you know, as a society could reshape agricultural and supply chains as well as maybe you were alluding to the fast food industry. As diets change significantly over time and over a long period of time, I don't see how it wouldn't change the food industry overall and probably the packaging, industry when we talk about sizes and marketing. So, yeah, thank you guys so much for giving me your expert opinion and insights into this topic.
Derrick Teal: Happy to do it.
Matt Reynolds: Thank you, Liz.
