Can big food adapt to healthier diets?

Filling bellies is a lucrative business. The West’s ten most valuable packaged-food and soft-drink companies have a combined market capitalisation of around $1trn. Their average operating margin last year was a plump 17%; grocers typically make just 2-4%. Consumers have continued to feast on the cheap calories served up by these firms despite the recent bout of inflation. Last year the group’s sales grew by 5%, on average. Rising demand in the developing world is bolstering growth. Around half of Coca-Cola’s revenue already comes from outside Western markets. HSBC, a bank, reckons that global food demand will increase by more than 40% between now and 2040.