A new review into European fresh produce consumption habits has revealed that most consumers fail to reach fresh produce intake levels recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) of 400g per day.
The report was put together by the European Food Information Council (EUFIC), and found that fruit and vegetable intake varied between European regions, age groups and socio-economic blocks.
In terms of nations, Poland led the way with a mean fruit and vegetable intake per day, in grams, of 577, followed by Italy (452g), Germany (442g) and Austria (413g), the EUFIC study found.
At the other end of the scale, Iceland propped up the list of countries with an intake of 196g, just below Sweden (237g), the Czech Republic (253g), Finland (256g) and the UK (258g).
EUFIC noted that there were consistent findings in Europe's consumption patterns, with the majority of Europeans failing to reach the WHO's recommended daily consumption targets, while southern nations seemed to have, on average, a higher fresh produce intake than northern countries.
'Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption is a priority for international organisations as well as national governments, which has resulted in many initiatives,' EUFIC reported. 'There are certain elements that have been shown to improve the results of intervention programmes.'
According to the report, these successful elements have included a 12-month duration, multi-component strategies addressing both personal factors such as knowledge and skills, as well as the physical and social environment.
