Michal Slawski, Sector Manager Horticulture, Bord Bia - The Irish Food Board
Recent Kantar fresh produce sales show that fruit and vegetable sales are holding steady, with the value of sales in the last 52 weeks to the end of June totaling €779 million for fruit and €566 million worth for vegetables.
One of the reasons for this resilience in sales are the links between consumption of fruit and vegetables and good health. Recent Bord Bia research shows that Irish people are becoming more health conscious with 88% recognising the importance of eating well, and 94% of people say that they try to eat a lot of fruit and vegetables. In addition, over 80% are trying to eat high fibre foods, and there is growing importance of digestive wellness to consumers in general.
Research from the UK (Attitudes towards Healthy Eating in the UK, February 2019, Mintel) , where gut health is of similar importance, shows an interesting gap between wanting to improve gut health and taking action on this this desire. Gut health is seen as essential to overall health by 68% of UK adults, rising to 72% among over-55s. However, only 20% of adults report to eat foods which support gut health. Even among people who see gut health as important this is a minority view at just 26%. This likely stems from uncertainty over which foods provide this functional benefit.
Fruit and vegetables are well placed to take advantage of this trend with EFSA (European Food
Safety Authority) approved digestive health links, such as calcium and fibre.
Irish vegetables which are a source or good source of calcium are spinach and kale, and fruits and vegetables which are a source of fibre include strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, carrots and broccoli.
Unfortunately, this information is not widely known, and it can be hard get the information across to consumers. Friends and family are the most widely used source of advice on healthy eating, cited by 30% of people who try to eat healthily, rising to 42% among under-25s. Public health campaigns are used by just 14%, despite many people approving of these sorts of initiatives in general. Over a third (35%) of UK adults do not use any form of advice.
This indicates a need for organisations/companies to put healthy eating guidance directly in the path of shoppers. 50% of consumers report they are more likely to buy if the health/nutrition advice is on front of pack.
This is surely an opportunity for retailers to boost the sales of these already popular fruit and vegetables by highlighting their gut health credentials on front of pack.