12/5/07 Consumer Trends for Apples

Consumer Trends for Apples. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. What does it take to get you to choose fresh fruit over prepackaged snack treats? Are you away of the health benefits of consuming fresh fruits over the other alternatives? Are you actively trying to lose weight? Stacie Haaga, Director of Consumer Health and Education with U.S. Apple bets you might be. HAAGA: Half of all Americans are looking to lose weight through dieting. They want to lose weight but the reality is most don't know how to do that. They don't know what to purchase to do so there's a real disconnect between this desire to close weight and actually converting this desire into day to day behavior. As you might be able to tell, Haaga is a dietician and part of her job with U.S. Apple is to help make the public, moms in particular, more aware of the benefits of choosing an apple. HAAGA: Even if you do have some nutrition knowledge, there's a clear lack of understanding and a lot of the messages out there geared towards consumers aren't necessarily understandable. Health is really top of mind right now for American's. The statistics bear this up with significant increases in consumers desiring more health information. One way that U.S. Apple is trying to get the message out is by targeting the next generation of shoppers. HAAGA: We are really trying to target a lot of those moms especially who are looking to make positive changes for their families and as many of you know children are driving decisions now. Children are really impacting purchasing decisions made by their moms. More tomorrow. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.