A news item was just published in Mexico's Reforma newspaper on the report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) entitled "Students’ Well-Being: PISA 2015 Results."
What catches the attention from this report is that the new generation of teenagers in Mexico seems to mimic and approach the average for the rest of the 34 OECD countries by not having breakfast. The figures from this organization state that, on average, 18.2 percent of male and 25.7 percent of female 15-year-olds go to school without eating breakfast. In Mexico, these figures are 15.6 percent and 21 percent, respectively.
Why are these Mexican teenagers leaving the traditional Mexican breakfast with eggs? Instead of imitating the good, we are imitating bad habits. It is astonishing that it is not due to lack of financial resources, but precisely because of bad habits and for following standards of beauty. This also has a direct impact on the educational performance of students.
At the last meeting of the International Egg Commission (IEC) in Monaco, we repeatedly heard about the need for the egg industry to modernize, to add value and to give something more.
But here in front of our noses, a market and a good custom – nothing more and nothing less than the consumption of nutritionally perfect and affordable food – is going away.
Egg producers should address this market for the sake of the industry and the students. In an interview, I asked César de Anda, president of the IEC, if Mexico has already reached the top of egg consumption. He said it has not, that we should not be surprised that one these days it will be 400 eggs per capita. I think he's right. The market is there. In front of us. It’s nothing sophisticated: Just young people who do not eat breakfast.
Hopefully, we will not be surprised by these bad habits in a few years. What do you think?
