Just 12 per cent of UK consumers are eating their 5 A DAY, according to the latest TNS Usage panel data, which concludes that the average intake of recommended fresh produce is 2.6 portions a day in this country.
This figure has moved forward by an average of 0.1 percentage points a year since 2005, a rate that would need to be repeated for 25 more years to move the population to their full daily quota.
Chris Kingsland, business development manager at TNS Global, asked: “With the unprecedented rise in food prices this year, and pressure from elsewhere on the household budget, are canned and frozen formats of five a day foods and drink growing at a faster rate than their fresh produce equivalents?”
The story, he added, is a mixed one. In value terms, total chilled fresh fruit and vegetables are up by six per cent to year-ending p/e September 2008. However, canned vegetables are also in modest growth, at three per cent, but tinned fruit is stationary.
Chilled juices and ready-to-drink formats are growing by seven per cent this year, though the ambient juice market is static. The clearest growth in five a day this year is in frozen vegetables, with sales up by eight per cent and in consumption terms that growth is being driven by children.
“Using a new analytical tool called “Purchase +, we can evaluate how much “five a day” is currently worth to the breakfast occasion; and it’s approx £1.22 billion pre annum. Breakfast is the healthiest meal of the day, but just 11.4 per cent of five a day consumption takes place at this occasion,” said Kingsland.
That figure only slightly over indexes versus total food and drink, and doesn’t come close to the five a day value at the evening meal, which tips the scales at more than £3.9bn.
Kingsland said: “Most of us are still not reaching our targets, even though this five a day initiative is now common knowledge, and there is no evidence that poorer families are excluded, due to the wide range of formats included in the grouping counting as five a day.
“Perhaps the key will be to recruit more young adult consumers falling well short of this number, by making the occasion easier and more enjoyable. Maybe this will influence the long-term situation,” he said.
