The Dutch horticulture sector is more aware of the opportunities food claims on vegetables can offer. Companies are gradually orienting themselves on how to market vegetables with claims, the Kenniscentrum Plantenstoffen observes, partly in response to a scan by Axon Lawyers commissioned by the centre. They mapped which food claims are commercially interesting to add to vegetables.
At the moment, there are various parties taking steps to apply claims. One of them is Thank You Nature from Rob Baan. The company claims his eggplants contain 20 percent more folic acid than other eggplants. "Folic acid is indispensable for pregnant women, because the vitamin contributes to a healthy development of their unborn babies. But adult bodies also benefit from folic acid. It aids in the production of red blood cells, and is good for a healthy nervous system," Thank You Nature claims.
The Kenniscentrum Plantenstoffen hopes more entrepreneurs and growers will cleverly respond to the opportunities with food claims in the coming time. On the Kenniscentrum Plantenstoffen website, one can read which claims could be valuable to breeders, growers and other companies in horticulture, marketing-wise. Director Leon Mur: "Then it becomes possible to adjust the marketing to that, or to breed and grow the product in such a way that it has an effect that benefits health, and is thus worth a claim."
Source: Kenniscentrum Plantenstoffen