International Fresh Produce Assoc
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. The international Fresh Produce Association is a trade group with the mission of helping businesses at every step along our food supply chain.
And, not surprisingly, IFPA VP of Nutrition and Heath, Molly Van Lieu says their goal is …
VAN LIEU … “… to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables and improve business prosperity for our members. And part of increasing consumption is really focusing on nutrition programs.
And to do that, Van Lieu says will take more education …
VAN LIEU … “There’s definitely a change in food awareness. I think part of that is social media and just access to more information, which sometimes is good and sometimes is bad because there’s no regulation of whether that information is accurate.”
And as we can tell by the “F” in IFPA, Fresh will be the focus …
VAN LIEU … “When you look at the actual consumption data, fruit and vegetables consumption is flat. So, that’s why we really need to continue to focus on strategies that will increase. Now we don’t have a definition of ultra-processed foods, but the general concept of them, estimates are that the American diet is somewhere between 60% and 70%.
So, that is definitely something that we need to work on and spin it for a goal of the MAHA movement.”
Van Lieu says while we have increased access to more fresh fruits and vegetables, there’s a difference between what people have access to and what they are buying.
