Westfalia Fruit Group, the top supplier of avocados to the UK, has joined the coalition of 23 other member organisations in support of nonprofit Veg Power to help drive healthy consumption among children.
Westfalia, the multinational grower-packer-shipper that has sales office in the UK and around the world and grows a multitude of other vegetables, said it the initiative aligns well with their mission as a company.
“As a leading fresh produce supplier, Westfalia is proud to support the Veg Power campaign,” Graham Young, Westfalia CEO Europe said. “We all appreciate the benefits of eating a balanced diet and hope the on-going campaign can help shift our good intentions to action and protect the health of us all.”
Veg Power, well known for its popular Eat Them to Defeat them series that aims increase healthy eating among kids, is backed by the Food Foundation, Hugh-Fearnley-Whittingstall, Sir John Hegarty and Baroness Boycott. In two and a half years, the group says that “more than 500 million additional children’s portions of vegetables worth £63m” have been purchased by consumers.
One of the most popular fresh items in the UK over the past five years has been avocados, which squarely fit into the goals of Veg Power as a fresh produce commodity packed with nutrients, but it’s those veg items that could be a difference maker in helping children achieve targets. Less than one third of them eat less than one portion of vegetables per day, and their parents don’t do much better, falling short of the 5-per-day goal by two servings.
Veg Power, founded as a whole-sector membership programme late in 2020, gives the grocery industry and horticulture sector “a direct stake in the future of the campaign and offers a range of benefits including industry briefings, brand-licensing opportunities and exclusive Market Insight reports.”
Says Dan Parker, CEO of Veg Power, of the newest partnership: “We’re delighted to welcome Westfalia to our membership programme to support us achieve our mission of getting every child and adult eating an extra portion of veg. We’ve got a whole range of exciting projects on the horizon to encourage more of us to expand and increase our veg intake.”
One of those in a white paper called ‘Opportunity Knocks – How do we make the “new normal” a “better normal” for vegetables?’ which offers research-led guidance on how the sector can capitalise on trends during the COVID pandemic.
