Poorer families in Britain have cut the amount of fruit and vegetables they buy by almost a third to consume little over half the recommended five portions per day.
Households in the lowest income bracket consistently bought smaller and smaller quantities of fruit and vegetables between 2006 and 2010, the most recent year for figures released by DEFRA.
Fruit purchases among families on the lowest incomes fell 30 per cent at just 2.7 portions per person per day. The amount spent on food in the bracket peaked at 16.8 per cent in 2008, before falling back to 16.1 per cent in 2009 and 15.8 per cent in 2010.
The DEFRA survey suggests this was possibly due to households finding ways to trade down to cheaper products.
The survey also looked at home-grown food, and found that between three and four per cent of fresh fruit and veg entering the household in 2010 came from free sources, mainly gardens and allotments.
“Fresh beans, which include broad, runner, and French varieties, had the highest proportion with 31 per cent being home-grown. Home-grown fruit and vegetables have been relatively constant across the last four years,” the report stated.
In 2010, the amount spent per person per week on fresh and processed potatoes was £1.13, with £4.41 on fruit and vegetables excluding potatoes.
Expenditure on vegetables excluding potatoes in 2010 was £2.30 per person per week, while 23p was spent on fresh apples and 32p on pure fruit juices.
Meanwhile health secretary Andrew Lansley has announced that councils are to be given more than
£2 billion to tackle public health issues including obesity as part of NHS reforms. It is the first time since 1974 that local authorities have been given responsibility for public health, and a focus on diet and obesity is expected as part of the initiative.
No comments yet