5 things: Food recalls aren’t on the rise—but social media is5 things: Food recalls aren’t on the rise—but social media is

Recalls on repeat? It seems the U.S. public is obsessed with food recalls (we at Supermarket News seem to be posting daily about various recalled items.) However, data shows the number of food recalls this year are on par with last year’s numbers, according to a Washington Post piece. The product recalls have always existed—the difference these days is the enormous amount of media channels where consumers get their information. Back in the 1970s, one of the three major networks might have made the decision to report on a food recall. Now, social media, grocery apps, and news websites are all dedicated to spreading the news. And, according to psych expert David Levari, people are wired to overestimate threats, especially ones they encounter less often. Having information at our fingertips can be a great thing, as long as we don’t let them get to our head. —Bill Wilson

Food deserts growing: Food deserts are on the rise, and the federal government’s failure to enforce the Robinson-Patman Act, passed by Congress nearly nine decades ago, is the cause of the problem, according to an exposé in The Atlantic. The report noted that the U.S. has more food deserts now than in the depths of the Great Recession in 2010. For decades, the Federal Trade Commission used Robinson-Patman to block suppliers from giving larger grocers better prices, but that all changed in the 1980s when the Reagan Administration chose to stop enforcing the act. It drove the success of megaretailers like Walmart and the consolidation of independent operators in the industry trying to keep up. Between 1982 and 2017, independent retailers saw their market share plummet from 53% to 22%, which led to the closure of stores across the nation and the rise of food deserts. Those larger chains never filled the void left because they could count on shoppers driving longer distances to buy food, according to the report. —Tim Inklebarger 

The impact of shuttered pharmacies: The unprecedented closure of U.S. pharmacies over the past decade is leaving many without care and potentially contributing to a rise in national healthcare costs. In this article from pharmacy research scientist Maria Pino, she offers advice to drugstore representatives regarding closures on Long Island, N.Y., where over a dozen Rite Aid stores have already closed. (Rite Aid announced in August that it would close 800 U.S. stores as part of its bankruptcy restructuring.) Pino advises lobbying state officials to pass Assembly Bill a7592, which would permit telepharmacy, already offered in some 29 states, throughout the state. In addition, she said pharmacies now managing the needs of broader geographic areas and more diverse populations should employ bilingual staff to ensure that all patients are able to fully understand their medications. —Chloe Riley

Evolving taste buds: Since GLP-1 drugs started becoming mainstream—7 million Americans currently take one, and that number could be 24 million by 2035—there has been much talk in the food retail industry about how to accommodate consumers’ shrinking appetites. But Ozempic, Wegovy, and their cousins present more challenges than just suppressed appetites. The drugs, traditionally prescribed to diabetes patients but now being used as weight-loss tools, can change the way taste buds interpret different flavors. So far, that looks like patients suddenly preferring fresh produce to ultra-processed snack foods, or in the case of one subject, all but one food becoming unpalatable (in his case, beef jerky is often the only thing he can stomach). This means snack-food companies are scrambling to come up with tasty solutions to keep their consumer base. The New York Times Magazine spent time with executives at and customers of Mattson, which ideates products for companies including PepsiCo and Hostess, to find out how they’re moving forward in a world where HoHos now taste “plasticy” to formerly sugar-addicted consumers. —Leigh Anne Zinsmeister

A foodservice retail tax loophole: A Utah state senator is seeking a legislation change in 2025 after realizing he wasn’t charged the county’s restaurant tax when he got a bite to eat in the cafe of a Harmons grocery store. State Senator Lincoln Fillmore noted that while the county-imposed 1% tax on food and beverages at restaurants was collected at fast-food joints, it did not apply to foodservice at retail. Utah is one of the 16 states with a tax on food— in Utah that rate is 3%. Fillmore looks to close this tax loophole for “portions of a grocery store that function like a restaurant” and charge the same amount as any other restaurant. —Ally MacConchie