Whether they want to or not, America’s elected officials must begin to think and act with an out-of-the-box mentality to give our economy even a glimmer of potential to regain its solvency. A major challenge these days relates to how public and private entities, upon which the nation’s economy relies, interact with each other. To some degree, it would seem that the line between the two is growing increasingly thin. This is troubling given that government and business should operate as countervailing forces to hold each other in check.

Leaders, managers and innovators of the food industry likewise must write a new chapter in the manual governing issues of supply and demand. The major challenge is that food is a commodity, an ingredient and a meal. That means its value is measured at every stage along that chain.

What do I mean by out-of-the box actions? Well, a recent example comes to mind. Consider the high fructose corn controversy. This ingredient is being blamed for everything from obesity and attention deficit disorders and various other diseases in between. So how can this industry hope to offset negative publicity and consumer fears?

Well, consider the Corn Refiners Association (CRA), which is confronting the issue head-on with facts and an understanding of marketing tactics. CRA’s multimedia advertising campaign aims to change the conversation concerning high fructose corn syrup from a blame game to a realistic basis for dialogue. CRA uses TV and the Internet for such discussions as how the body handles and metabolizes high fructose corn syrup and sugar. High fructose corn syrup provides benefits, CRA maintains, that have little to do with sweetening food and beverage products, including playing a key role in the integrity of those products. High fructose corn syrup is simply a kind of corn sugar. It has the same number of calories as sugar and is handled similarly by the body.

Social media has become the online word-of-mouth communication outlet, to be sure. Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and YouTube are perceived as tools to help business operators mitigate the economic environment.

At the same time these media tools can bring instant trouble into houses of government and business. Consider the highly successful “Got Milk” campaign, which rescued the economy of the dairy industry a few years ago. All those milky moustaches on the upper lips of various celebrities may have brought a certain cache to milk as a beverage. Unfortunately beautiful people can’t compete with pictures supporting so-called inhumane practices such as tail docking within the dairy industry.

Food-safety initiatives and better product offerings have ruled as food manufacturers and their retail channel partners sought to abide by their contract with consumers. A new contract with consumers may be the best way to recreate a 21st century supply and demand cycle, however, with an out-of-the-box attitude.

Think about it.