Lauren Zirbel: HFIA’s executive director represents the interests of Hawaii’s food industry

Lauren Zirbel, wife and mother of a toddler son, finds herself concerned with grocery-basket issues, like many people at that stage of life.

But unlike most of them, her focus turns also to the concerns of the grocers, and at this time of the year, that takes her to the state Capitol (and, year-round, to county council meeting rooms), where a lot of those concerns are worked out.

Zirbel, 33, is there as executive director of the Hawaii Food Industry Association (HFIA), encompassing the full range of companies, from agricultural businesses that sell at farmers’ markets, to restaurants and businesses that pave the way for food to get from producer to consumer.

Lately the issues have surrounded the packaging of the food, including plastic bags and polystyrene containers.

Zirbel said her organization favors a fee on single-use plastic bags to encourage shoppers to remember bringing their reusable bag — otherwise, too many of them are falling back on paper bags, not a boon to the environment. And the group contends that “biodegradable” stand-ins for foam containers do not degrade in modern landfills, and are more expensive.

The association also has lobbied against the current push to ban certain kinds of sunblock products that reportedly are associated with damage to reefs. It’s one of the product lines many grocers sell, and although food products remain the main target, HFIA looks out for other cost centers, too.

“We just try to follow the things that impact the cost of doing business, and impact food specifically,” she said.

The Ventura, Calif., native has family here and was a frequent visitor as a child. Not long after graduating with a political science degree from the University of California at Berkeley, she moved here and worked as a paralegal before her first post at HFIA opened 10 years ago.

She’s headed the organization for the past six years, and completed a graduate certificate in public policy from the University of Hawaii.

Zirbel and her husband, a Navy pilot, live in Kailua, where the 2-year-old keeps both busy.

Age 2, she said, is great: “People say it’s terrible but I think it’s a lot of fun. My husband was coaching AYSO soccer before we even had a kid.”

QUESTION: How many members, and in what categories of the food industry, does the association have?

ANSWER: HFIA has about 200 member companies and we represent all categories of food and beverage. We have retail members, supplier members and associate members.

Our retail members are food retailers such as grocery stores, convenience stores and restaurants. Our supplier members include food and drink manufacturers, distributors, wholesale brokers, food-service brokers, wholesale grocery supply, wholesale grocery cooperatives, and more.

Our associate members include banks, payment services, ocean and land transportation, nonprofits, retail technology solutions, airlines, rental car companies, marketing companies, insurance companies, trade groups and more.

Q: What kinds of issues concern the organization?

A: There’s a lot happening with food in general, as far as federal regulations. There’s always new regulations going into place about food safety, labeling, those types of things.

One of the purposes of the association is to educate members on the new regulations that are coming to fruition, helping to prepare them for that eventuality.

Q: I’m assuming you took a position on the GMO (genetically modified organism) labeling issue?

A: That hasn’t been an issue in quite some time because there was a federal law (S. 764) that passed, which had state pre-emption. So we actually hadn’t seen that in a while. …

Usually we are against new labeling criteria that are not federally based, just because a lot of food is shipped here from other states. So if our labeling requirements differ from what other states are doing, it can be really challenging to figure out how to properly label things.

Q: How have the industry concerns changed in recent years?

A: The number of companies in the retail grocery space has dramatically decreased in the past decade. Many of our member companies have been bought by other member companies or gone out of business.

The retail grocery industry operates on extremely low margins and is highly competitive. The big unknown is how the uptick in online purchasing will impact the local industry long-term. Everyone is evolving to keep up with new trends.

From a policy standpoint, we are asking policy makers to improve the business climate and trying to prevent legislation that makes Hawaii’s business environment worse. We want to maintain an economical food supply for the people of Hawaii.

Although we are surrounded by water, we overcome many barriers to make diverse dishes and a wide variety variety of ingredients available. HFIA members support many local organizations and businesses to improve the lives of people as well as the state’s economy.

The professionalism of people in this industry creates products and services that meet the wants and needs of everyone in Hawaii. We make food affordable and safe. We keep Hawaii fed!

Q: Can you summarize your concern about legislation to ban or restrict plastic and foam packaging? How should the environmental issue be addressed?

A: One of the greatest legislative successes for the food industry in recent years came as a result of sitting down with environmental groups and working together to solve the issue of plastic bags.

In the end, we were able to pass legislation that we think will be successful for everyone and that makes sense. We prefer to address issues holistically, by taking into account what waste distribution avenues are available in the city and county and moving forward from that point.

From our perspective, it doesn’t make sense to mandate more expensive products, when there is no facility to properly dispose of these more expensive products. For example, there are no commercial composting facilities in the state, and according to the compostable products manufacturer websites, these products do not safely break down when littered.

We would like to work on a solution that makes sense long-term. We have also long advocated for recycling glass on island, which would make tremendous sense from both an environmental and business perspective.

Q: It appears several bills you support that fund Hawaii Technology Development Corp. initiatives are still moving. Why are these important to your association?

A: The Hawaii Technology Development Corp. (HTDC) is a vital business accelerator that helps diversify and strengthen Hawaii’s economy. Manufacturing is an essential industry here in Hawaii, providing jobs and local products.

There is room for growth in this industry and the Manufacturing Grant Program is an important part of maintaining and growing a strong manufacturing sector here in Hawaii.

Q: House Bill 1806 is meant to improve liability protection for donors of food, including items past the pull date. Can you say why the association supports this?

A: Providing these common-sense protections for food donors makes it easier for businesses to participate in food donations programs. This helps to minimize food waste and means that food ends up being eaten by people who need it.

Q: Senate Bill 2461 would crack down on those who falsely claim an animal as a service animal. Is this an issue in food establishments?

A: Ensuring that all patrons have access to our businesses is a high priority for our members. People who misrepresent pets as service or support animals can jeopardize the health and safety of all patrons in food establishments, and create confusion about why it’s important for real service and support animals to be allowed in businesses.

We believe that this measure will help curb the practice of falsely claiming a pet as a service or support animal, and by extension, will help strengthen accessibility for those with real service and support animals.