The links between flavour and the nutritional benefits of vegetables need to be explored and exploited by UK growers, according to Hazel MacTavish, senior phytochemist at Adas Phytoinnovations. She was speaking to more than 200 delegates at last week's Syngenta Adas vegetable conference and warned that UK vegetable growers must respond. "Producers and packers must learn and adapt systems to maximise and preserve the levels of beneficial nutrients," said Dr MacTavish. "Colour flavour and crunch are the reasons we eat vegetables. There is now unequivocal evidence that a diet rich in fruit and vegetables can reduce cancer risk for consumers. Producers of vegetables can capitalise on these facts."
Asda's customer marketing manager for fresh produce Mary Ling told delegates that fresh vegetables have huge potential for growth in health food sector especially given that the average weekly spend on low-fat healthy options foods has increased by 70 per cent over the past year.
And National Farmers Union Board of Horticulture chairman Graham Ward told delegates that they must seize the initiative and cultivate a new generation of vegetable consumers: children. "Once they have nurtured a sprout to fruition, cooked and eaten their crop, they will be customers for life," said Ward.
But UK growers must act to protect their share of the market and capture any greater share of consumers' spend on premium food products, said Syngenta vegetable manager Bruce McKenzie. "The premium markets for helath foods, added-value produce and UK branded produce with extra benefits for consumers can all help to boost growers' returns," he said. But retailers and consumers must realise that "quality costs", warned McKenzie and must be prepared to reward growers adequately for the added burden of meeting environmental and legislative obligations in the future.
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