In this month’s profile on the Produce Marketing Association, the US trade association for fruit and vegetables, PMA welcomes new dietary guidelines issued by the US government, which increase the RDI for fruit and vegetables to at least nine portions per person.

On this side of the pond, the UK government has recognised the value of fruit and vegetables in its fight to make the nation a healthier place. In the US, meanwhile, they may not have attained the goal of increasing per capita consumption to five servings of fruit and vegetables a day, but the country’s administration has upped its daily recommended intake to at least nine portions of fresh produce.

PMA vice president of government relations Kathy Means has applauded the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, released by the US department of health and human services and the US department of agriculture.

Means particularly praised the government departments for their work in emphasising fruit and vegetable consumption throughout the guidelines.

The new dietary guidelines say a typical adult should eat at least nine servings of fruits and vegetables, at least three servings of whole grains and no more than two servings of meat, poultry or fish each day, while sharply limiting trans fats and eating less added sugar than the amount in a can of Coke.

Means said: "We are pleased that so many of our recommendations and those of others in the produce industry have been incorporated. The guidelines' emphasis on fruits and vegetables is so needed, and we were gratified to see secretaries Veneman and Thompson mentioning fruit and vegetables frequently as examples of a healthful diet and a key weapon in the fight against obesity. Our challenge now as an industry is to get the word out and make these guidelines a reality in the American diet.”

The guidelines are important because they form the basis for federal health and feeding programs, and many other organisations use them in developing their own dietary guidance. In general, the sixth version of Dietary Guidelines for Americans places stronger emphasis on reducing calorie consumption and increasing physical activity. Specific to produce consumption, the guidelines reinforce the importance of fruit and vegetable intake in several recommendations. These include:

• From the Food Groups to Encourage recommendation: Consume a sufficient amount of fruit and vegetables while staying within energy needs. Two cups of fruit and two-and-a-half cups of vegetables per day are recommended for a reference 2,000-calorie intake, with higher or lower amounts depending on the calorie level.

• Choose a variety of fruits and vegetables each day. In particular, select from all five vegetable sub-groups (dark green, orange, legumes, starchy vegetables, and other vegetables) several times a week.

• From the Carbohydrate recommendation: Choose fibre-rich fruit, vegetables, and whole grains often.

• From the Sodium/Potassium recommendation: Choose and prepare foods with little salt. At the same time, consume potassium-rich foods, such as fruit and vegetables.

“One of PMA's comments was about helping consumers understand serving sizes because this is one of the most confusing issues for them,” said Means. “Using household measurements - two-and-a-half cups of vegetables and two cups of fruit for people eating a 2,000-calorie diet -- is going to make it much clearer to consumers exactly how much they should be eating. It should seem less overwhelming than the word serving.”

New to the guidelines is a food safety recommendation that advises: Clean hands, food contact surfaces, and fruit and vegetables.

Meat and poultry should not be washed or rinsed. Separate raw, cooked, and ready-to-eat foods while shopping, preparing, or storing foods.

To help consumers in the area of fresh produce safety, PMA and the Partnership for Food Safety Education recently launched new tools to help educate the public. Through its FightBAC! Program, the partnership released Safe Produce Handling for Consumers, as reported in the Journal in November’s PMA profile. PMA helped fund and develop these messages for the partnership.

PMA also commended the agencies for the consumer brochure (which clearly highlights fruit and vegetables) to be used as outreach on the dietary guidelines. The brochure advises consumers to get the most nutrition out of the calories they consume. Means said that fruit and vegetables are the powerhouse foods with mega-nutrition for few calories.

“FDA is rightly crusading for its Calories Count program in an effort to educate consumers in a very simple way that they have to burn the fuel they put in their bodies if they don't want to gain weight, and they have to burn more than they take in if they want to lose weight. Fruit and vegetables, low in calories and high in nutrition, should be the cornerstone of any diet,” she said.