It is into this no man’s land of the emotions that we are thrust by the European Commission’s recent study on fruit and vegetable consumption in the EU-28.
Taking the despair first, overall more than one third of Europeans do not even consume one portion of fruit or vegetables a day. Worse still, just 14 % follow the famous nutrition rule of 5 portions a day. Only the United Kingdom bucks the trend, with one third of consumers (aged over 15) following the rule, and just 21 % only rarely coming into contact with this type of food. Which is a shame with Brexit now in full swing! Bottom of the class are Bulgaria and Romania, the absolute opposites of the United Kingdom, with respectively just 4.4 % and 3.5 % of consumers following good practice. The study also finds a positive correlation between education level and consumption level of these products.
Yet the results of this consultation are also a source of hope for all producers and operators in the sector. Namely, to hoist fruit and vegetable consumption up from hardly anything to one or two portions a day, if only for a tiny percentage of the population. There is immense growth potential. It is up to these same operators to convince the recalcitrant to do themselves a favour, the public authorities having failed miserably to do so. Yet there is every reason to hope, since the study also shows that for the same education level, women consume much more fruit and vegetables than men. Given that women are the future of men, as the saying goes, and since wisdom (the goddess Sophia) is womankind’s prerogative, fruit and vegetable consumption should soon be soaring.
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