Pumpkin-Oriented Consumption Highlights Power of Big Pumpkin
A new report from the Institute for Fair Foods shows the outsized influence the Pumpkin Industry has over the lives of North American consumers. Pumpkin growers, processors, festivals, spice and food makers, and retail coffee companies, known collectively as “Big Pumpkin”, have increased pumpkin and pumpkin spice consumption every year for the last sixteen years. The producers of pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice products continue to see record profits each Fall season as they add pumpkin spice or dye their products orange during the Fall. The cost for pumpkin spice versions of products adds an average of a 34% price premium over the regular products. Pumpkin orange-colored products sell 56% more than standard color products. The report also highlighted the advertising budget for pumpkin-related products is 128% higher in the Fall than at any other time of the year. The US Food and Drug Administration recommends no more than 1000 mg of pumpkin pie spice per day, yet more Americans consume four times that amount, leading to a variety of chronic health problems. The color additives used to create pumpkin orange products, such as red 40, yellow 5, and yellow 6, may be banned by the FDA for turning children an orange hue. The Federal Trade Commission has opened an investigation into price fixing, collusion, and other anti-competitive practices of Big Pumpkin. A spokesperson for the Association of Pumpkin Products Purveyors handed out Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes before railing against the overreach from Federal agencies. Big Pumpkin has hired a legislative lobbying firm to change the season name from “Fall” to “Pumpkin” and to make November 15 a federally recognized holiday named “Pumpkin Appreciation Day”.