Pandemic shift: Over half of consumers eat more fruit and vegetables

Signifying a major shift in consumers’ mindsets, over half (51%) claimed to have eaten more fruit and vegetables during the first national lockdown, according to a new research from IGD.

The latest research in IGD’s Appetite for Change series has also revealed that more than three-quarters (83%) of consumers changed how they planned, purchased and prepared their food during this period.

“In the first lockdown, we saw the majority of consumers adopting new food behaviours such as cooking more from scratch and spending more time preparing meals,” commented Hannah Pearse, head of nutrition and scientific affairs at IGD.

“Many of these new behaviours also had a positive impact on people’s diets; for example, those who participated in a weight loss plan, bought a fruit or vegetable box or cooked more from scratch also claimed to have eaten more fruit and vegetables.”

The data, drawn from 2,000 UK consumers through September and October, shows there is a unique opportunity for the food and consumer goods industry to help consumers turn positive new habits adopted over the last few months into long-term changes to their diets, IGD noted.

“This is all hugely encouraging when it comes to ways we can support people to increase their fruit and vegetable consumption. With most consumers still only eating 3.4 portions of their recommended 5 A Day intake, we know that significant barriers remain around habit, cost and confidence,” Pearse said.

Major barriers identified by the research include: ‘not exciting’ (40%); perceiving as more expensive (38%) and not knowing to do with them (60%).

IGD has suggested practical actions that businesses can take to help drive behaviour change and encourage consumers to eat more fruit and vegetables. These include:

• Using positive language and imagery to market plant-based meals and meals containing extra vegetables
• Creating striking displays of local and seasonal fruit and vegetables, in-store and online
• Inspiring consumers to swap ingredients in their favourite recipes
• Using online meal planners, giving shoppers the option of adding ingredients to an online basket as they go

Pearse added: “From really effective marketing and product placement to meal planning and recipe inspiration, there are lots of really practical actions businesses can take to help shift consumer behaviour further towards healthy and sustainable diets. As an industry we all have a role to play in helping encourage this positive behaviour, and if we come together our impact will be much greater.”