A campaign launched last week to promote British fruit and vegetables at their seasonal best has been criticised by some sections of the produce industry for its narrow-minded approach to consumption.
Eat Seasonably is part of a non-profit project spearheaded by Dame Fiona Reynolds, director general of the National Trust, and Ian Cheshire, chairman of B&Q.
The initiative, which has been made possible through seed funding and support from DEFRA, is urging players from across the supply chain to start promoting fruit and vegetables at their seasonal best to encourage more sustainable lifestyles.
MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace is backing the campaign, which he unveiled at last Thursday’s Re:fresh Conference. He said: “I am not suggesting that we turn our backs on imported fruit and vegetables, but it is important to use British produce as best you can during its season. A whole generation of kids thinks strawberries taste like the imports we get.”
But Eat Seasonably has come under fire from the Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC). Chief executive of the FPC Nigel Jenney said: “We welcome this campaign’s focus on eating more fresh fruit and vegetables, but we should not look to restrict consumers’ choice and deprive the nation of some of its favourite fruit and vegetables at certain times of the year by implying that produce grown indoors, imported or stored may not be as enjoyable or as responsible towards the environment.”
The Eat Seasonably calendar imposes “ridiculous restrictions on key indigenous staples of the UK diet”, according to the FPC, which would “simply make production unviable from a grower’s perspective and undermine consumers’ interest in fresh produce, leading them towards greater consumption of highly processed foods”.
Jenney added: “We need to encourage UK consumers to eat 5 A DAY and they need a wide variety of fresh produce, regardless of origin, to achieve this. We face a difficult challenge in terms of our nation’s health. We should not be doing anything that limits choice in the face of this significant issue.”
But Wallace predicted at Re:fresh that the next food trend in the UK would be “local and seasonal”, in line with the buying patterns of the top-end chefs. “In Italy, good food is a birthright and we know they use their own produce,” he said. “At any time of year, there is enough produce [from the UK] not to buy imported. In Italy, in the winter, they preserve produce such as tomatoes. If the top-end foodies carry on copying the buying styles of the Mediterranean, then it will knock us into food preservation.”
But Wallace was forced to defend himself when Michael Earley of Rago Group, an Italian salad supplier to the UK, spoke up to tell him he was “living in a fantasy world”, as imported fresh food is available all year round in Italy, and the UK is reliant on imports.
Wallace insisted: “I can’t promote the beauty of English strawberries if the fruit is available year round - it dilutes the beauty and splendour of the [English] product.”
This week’s freshinfo poll, which questioned if Wallace’s strawberry comment was correct, saw 67 per cent of respondents agree with his statement. However, it drew calls for a balance when it comes to promoting seasonal produce.
One pollster wrote: “I am all for local and in-season produce. But when it is not available it is an insult to say that growers who produce in other countries do not produce food that tastes as good, or is somehow inferior. If I get my children to eat 5 A DAY by eating strawberries out of season, then I will continue to. Commentators like this need to be more responsible.”
Another wrote: “[We should] understand that importing is not a bad thing and eating fruit and vegetables is a must whatever time of the year, but additionally promote the UK’s celebrated produce... Gregg promotes an idealised fantasy of UK produce and unfortunately through this, loses all focus on the issue he is trying to promote.”
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