The average European consumption of fruit and vegetables is in a downward trend. "Over the last 10 years we have started consuming 80 grams less per person. These are alarming figures," said Philippe Binard during the Tomato Congress in Antwerp. People know that the product is healthy and that it's good to consume more. The problem is that little action is undertaken. This is an important task for the fruit and vegetable sector."
111 million Euro
The good news is that the EU has made more money available for the promotion of fruit and vegetables both inside and outside of Europe. A total amount of 111 million Euro has been provided for the promotion of fruit and vegetables for various projects in 2016.
Communication
"A weakness of our sector is that we don't know the consumer that well," continued Philippe. "It's important that we immerse ourselves more in the different generation to understand and convince them well." There are certainly trends that the sector can play into. "There is more demand for local and organic produce in many European countries. There are also increasing amounts of consumers who are vegetarian. If we look at the food pyramid we as a sector rank very highly in health benefits and very low when it comes to the impact on the environment. This has to be communicated!"
Competitors
Philippe also indicated that we have to deal with competitors. "We have the pill industry, which suggest that vitamin pills are a good replacement for fruit and vegetables. There are also a large amount of parties in the food industry who abuse the image of fruit and vegetables on their packaging and in their communications to the consumer. There competitors also spend much more on marketing."
Communicating
"We have to communicate more as a sector. This can be done through the use of new social media, for instance. Besides this there is an opportunity to create more eating moments, so that the consumer can reach for fruit or vegetables multiple times a day. Of course it's very important to understand the consumer and research their behaviour."
Claims
Freshfel is committed to the sector and pleads for a changing European law in the area of health. "We believe it is very important that the laws around health claims are changed. Fruit and vegetables have a lot of advantages, research proves this, and it has to be communicated. The current laws still limit that too much."
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Europe: Health claims on fruit and vegetables - the EU must change its ways asap