Promoting Fresh Produce: strategies and successes

1. Promoting Fresh Produce: strategies and successes Nigel Jenney – Chief Executive, Fresh Produce Consortium Dom Lane – Bray Leino

2. Introducing FPC • The Fresh Produce Consortium is the UK’s fresh produce trade association. • Has represented the fresh produce sector for many years and is widely recognised across the UK and EU as the voice of the industry. • Membership covers the entire industry spectrum with over 900 members including major retailers, wholesalers, importers, packers, food service, floral companies, embassies and other related organisations.

3. FPC’s commitment • Inform and advise on current issues affecting our industry. • Provide a forum for members to meet and discuss current issues and concerns which may impact on the industry, and take action where necessary on their behalf. • Maintain a close liaison with politicians and government departments, in a rational and objective focus, to influence UK and EU legislators for the benefit of our industry. • Promote consumption of fresh produce throughout the whole community.

4. Importers Retail Multiple & Independent Technical inc Pesticides & Packaging FPC Structure & Divisions Re:Fresh Floral Growers & Packers inc Potato Packers Wholesale & Food Service Business Services Human Resources Health & Safety Insurance Energy Management Food Safety Promotion ‘Eat in Colour’

5. Total market: volume – fruit & veg (000 tonnes) Defra

6. UK Imports – fruit and vegetables (000 tonnes) Defra

7. UK Self-Sufficiency – fruit and vegetables (000 tonnes) Defra

8. UK consumers with high expectations • Increasing interest in provenance, quality, and how food is produced. • People eat out more and seek wider variety of food. • Consumers want to buy ‘local’ and ‘seasonal’ produce – perception of lower environmental impact. • Industry seeks to strike a balance using Defra’s definition of ‘local and seasonal’: ‘Food that is outdoor grown or produced during the natural growing/production period for the country or region where it is produced. It need not necessarily be consumed locally to where it is grown. This applies to seasonal food produced both in the UK and overseas’.

9. Environmental impact in perspective • Consumption of fruit and vegetables accounts for 2.5% of UK’s GHG total. • Farming is the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions in the food chain. • Changing diet one day a week from red meat to fruit and vegetables has same impact as buying all food locally. • Total air freighted imports of fruit and vegetables account for just 0.2% of total UK greenhouse gas emissions.

10. UK spending habits - % income Office of National Statistics

11. Feeding an increasing population • UK population to reach 71 million by 2031. • Consumers want affordable variety all year round. • Increased production needed to meet demand versus challenge of land availability and climate change.

12. Need to achieve a healthy diet • Rise in diet-related chronic diseases. • Obesity epidemic - more than one billion adults overweight, with 300 million clinically obese. • Health problems cost £10 billion a year.

13. Benefits of fresh produce in the diet – need to avoid confusion for consumer • Fresh fruit and vegetables make an important contribution to a healthy diet. • The World Cancer Fund supports evidence that ‘eating plenty of fruit and vegetables probably reduces risk’, potentially preventing about 2.5 per cent of cancers. That equates to around 7,000 cases of cancer a year in the UK. • There is strong evidence that 5 a day reduces the risk of heart disease.

14. Encouraging healthy eating • UK consumer eats 2.5 servings of fruit and vegetables a day. • Only 12% of population hits 5-a-day target. • Around 1.9 million less well off people eat less than one serving a day.

15. Benefits of generic promotion • Achieves longer term changes in consumer behaviour. • Avoids the ‘cannibal effect’ of short term switching of purchases from one product to another. • Increases overall sales and consumption.

17. Need for a generic campaign • FPC members gave commitment and funding for three year campaign. • Consumer PR activities and website promoting benefits of fruit and veg as easy, simple tasty route to healthy eating.

19. universal charter “good for us all” food policy “right for society” child health/schools “good for kids” niche “good for you” adult/family health “good for the family” retailer promotions “good for consumers”

20. Relevant Accessible Entertaining and topical Not preachy or worthy Tackle the challenges Invite trial

21. Launching

22. Eatincolour.com

23. The Eat in Colour Challenge

24. Chocolate offsetting

25. Eat in Colour Roadshow

26. Eat in Colour On Your Sleeve

27. Eat in Colour On Your Sleeve

28. Eat in Colour Utd

29. Bowl not Biscuit Challenge

30. Soap Opera Survey

31. Waste Not Want Not

32. Souper Douper

33. Smoothies

34. Dartboard Diet

35. Soap Opera Survey II

36. Granny Knows Best

37. Fresh Five Minutes

40. Trade

41. The First Three Years 533 pieces of coverage Total readers: 92 million Total online readers: 255 million Total listeners: 96.5 million Total viewers: 20 million Total on-line visitors: 127,000 Total reach: 435 million

42. The First Three Years Hundreds of families Hundreds of workmates Hundreds of journalists Thousands of holiday makers 50,000 Beaver Scouts Millions of shoppers

43. Current activities • Healthy Eating badge promotion to over 40,000 Beaver Scouts. • Influencing future development of Government’s 5 A DAY strategy and Schools Fruit and Veg Scheme.

44. Campaign to expand 5 a day Re-classify the potato from carbohydrate to ‘supercarb’, to help promote the health benefits of the potato to the consumer.

45. Future opportunities • Let’s not eat each other, but work together. • Maximise opportunities to increase consumption of fresh produce and promote healthy eating.

46. We’re on the same team...

47. www.eatincolour.com www.freshproduce.org.uk Tel: 01733 237117