Although Belgians consumed more fruit and vegetables in 2020, the totals are still below those that nutritionists would wish to see. A recent poll was carried out by market research company GfK Belgium. It was commissioned by VLAM, the Flemish government’s center for agricultural and fisheries marketing.
Thanks to the epidemic in Belgium in 2020, more people were laid off from work or working from home, which saw the purchase of foodstuffs from retail sources increase by 12%. That increase in food purchased also extended to fruit and vegetables.
Belgian bought on average 40 kg of fresh vegetables in 2020, compared to 36 kg in 2019 – an increase of 11%. Fruit purchases went up from 43 kg in 2019 to 45 kg in 2020 – an increase of just 4%. The leading vegetable purchase was tomatoes with average household sales of 5.52 kg, just ahead of carrots (5.04 kg) and onions (3.87 kg). In the fruit basket, bananas led the field with 7.42 kg, ahead of apples (7.33 kg) and oranges (6.09 kg).
Still, the fact remains that Belgians eat too little fruit and vegetables on the whole. That has led VLAN to launch a new campaign aimed at encouraging the public to do better. The campaign forms part of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s drive to improve consumption of plant-based foods in what the FAO has declared as International Year of Fruit and Vegetables for 2021.
As reported on brusselstimes.com, the campaign will involve TV advertising nationwide, on French- and Dutch-speaking channels.
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