Fruit and vegetable promotion programs in the European Union

Promoting fruit and vegetable consumption is one of the main objectives of food and nutrition policy interventions worldwide. Public institutions, non-governmental organizations, research and health agencies together with market stakeholders undertake integrated initiatives to inform consumers about the health benefits of everyday fruit and vegetable intake. In the European Union several campaigns aimed at increasing produce demand have been launched in the nineties to improve the dietary patterns of the general population or specific consumer groups, such as children. However statistics show that fruit and vegetable intake in most EU states including new members is much below the recommended level. School-aged children, women and employees are currently the main target groups of “5 a day’ information and promotion activities aimed at increasing f&v consumption. In order to secure long-term effectiveness of such programs the main determinants of consumer choice in the food market should be monitored. Broad public-private partnerships, including producers and distributors seem to be the key to strengthening the efforts at “pushing’ market demand. Some of the campaigns developed and implemented in the European Union countries can be described as “5 a day’ best practices. The involvement of fruit and vegetable chain participants, cooperation and evaluation of undertaken interventions are further needed in order for the programs to become more efficient and widespread.