The wholesale sector needs to develop a strategy to support the 5-a-day campaign, said Nigel Jenney, chief executive of the Fresh Produce Consortium.
He called on delegates to the FPC Wholesale Division's annual conference to get behind the campaign in anyway they could.
Jenney said: "The 5-a-day opportunity is significant and we need to grasp it. So far, of the 300 people who have registered with the government to use the logo, only 15 have been produce businesses."
He said he accepted a number of the delegates' point that the wholesale market had difficulty connecting with the end consumer but said a strategy needed to be devised to allow the industry to make a meaningful contribution to the campaign.
A number of delegates also expressed concern that by supporting 5-a-day, they were simply growing the market for the multiples. However, Jenney said the campaign would be growing the market overall, to everyone's benefit.
"From an industry perspective, it could increase the overall market by an estimated 1.3 million tonnes, or around 18 per cent."
David Matthews, joint md of Bristol Fruit Sales, hit out at the doubters: "The arguments for not supporting this are the same as the arguments against previous schemes.
"The fact that the multiples will benefit from it is difficult to accept as an argument for not supporting 5-a-day.
"We have between us hundreds, if not thousands of lorries going up and down the country and we could put the logo on those.
"If we increase the overall market, then we increase our share as well as everybody elses, what could be wrong with that?"
Brian Daykin, chairman of the FPC Wholesale Division, said: "If we don't get on board then we're going to be left behind.
"The first thing we need to do is make it clear we are behind it, and supporting it, then we can look at developing a strategy through dialogue with the various markets."
